ITV Grantchester’s Tom Brittney brands exit ‘hardest decision of my life’ as bosses make stance clear on replacement
Grantchester fans will be delighted to learn series 10 is hitting screens this week, with a new Reverend at the helm as Ravi Nair makes his debut appearance.
Tom Brittney had starred as Reverend Will Davenport since 2019 after taking over the lead role from James Norton’s Sidney Chambers, but it was confirmed recently that Brittney would be leaving the show.
Speaking to GB News and other publications recently, the actor admitted that leaving the role had been his “hardest decision”.
The 34-year-old shared how featuring as the lead role in the series had been the “happiest years” as he reflected on his decision to step away.
“It was one of the hardest decisions of my life,” he commented as he joined other cast members in a press Q&A.
“I’ve spent five or six years, and the happiest years of my career doing Grantchester and playing a character which just had so much depth and complexity and it was just a happy place.”
Series creator Daisy Coulam also shared her thoughts on introducing a new lead to the show.
“It’s scary,” she admitted. “Change is always scary, isn’t it? And I think we there was such a genuine love between the characters and the actors, and you worry you can’t replicate that.
“But we’ve been very lucky on this show that we did it once with James Norton, then with Tom, and sometimes I think there’s like some kind of godly intervention in this show, because we hit gold the third time as well.
“So we were very lucky, even from the audition you guys hit it off.”
Brittney’s replacement, Nair, will be arriving at the 1950s Cambridgeshire village as Alphy Kotteram.
Series stalwart Robson Green, who stars as DI Geordie Keating, opened up about his own future on the show, pondering: “Why would I leave?”
He went on to reflect: “People say it’s good to get out of your comfort zone, which we all do every day we stand in front of the lens, but I mean it when I say it’s the gift that keeps on giving because it’s a beautiful place to turn up to and I never take one second of Grantchester for granted.”
Green continued: “I would only leave if the standard of writing capitulated.
“And it hasn’t because Daisy [Coulam] is at the helm and Emma [Kingsman-Lloyd] at the helm, and they were there right from the start with Al [Weaver] and Tessa [Peake-Jones] and Kacey [Ainsworth].”
It comes as the actor has now bid farewell to two of his fellow protagonists in the series, with Brittney having replaced Norton in 2023.
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Green also detailed the emotional goodbye to Brittney, commenting: “Tom’s a very close friend, and when that day came to say goodbye to him, there was no acting required – we hadn’t even started the scene and we were in bits.
“It was a really tough day to film, but it’s a beautiful scene, a beautiful goodbye.”
With new actor Nair, the show is able to explore another theme, which the actor reflected on during the press Q&A.
Explaining how his race would be a part of an upcoming plot, Nair explained: “This was the first time I did any period [drama] and, for me, it was really important that we did address that and that it was played out in the series,” he detailed.
“I think we would have really missed the trick and not played the truth of society if I just came into 1962 Rochester and everyone’s just absolutely lovely to me and no one bats an eyelid because that’s not what would have happened.”
Series 10 of the ITV drama will debut on Wednesday.