James Norton stars in ITV1’s new psychological thriller Playing Nice

After all, if you know him best for his role as the deeply disturbed and disturbing Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley, then you won’t be used to seeing him playing nice.

However, he gets to show off his versatility here as he stars alongside Niamh Algar as Pete and Maddie, who are shocked to discover their toddler was swapped at birth with another child. Along with the other parents, Miles (James McArdle) and Lucy (Jessica Brown Findlay), they must decide whether to continue to raise the boy they have already bonded with or reclaim their biological son.

It initially seems everyone is on the same page, but when hidden agendas begin to emerge, how long can their agreement hold?

For James, it has been refreshing to play a basically straightforward man who finds himself in an incredibly complex situation.

The actor says: “I like the fact that there’s a simplicity to Pete. Often roles have lots of conflict and dilemmas and I’ve played a lot of roles which have a lot of darkness in them. I like going as far away from myself as possible because it allows you to learn a lot and it’s always an exciting journey to really push to the fringes of humanity, however Pete offered something different.”

He adds: “We all know a Pete; we all know the guy who can walk into a pub and everyone knows him so they buy him a drink, and he’ll buy them one back even if he can’t really afford it because he’s that kind of guy. He’s lovable, a bit roguish and a little bit immature but generally sees the best in people and brings out the best in people.

“I thought that’d be really nice to play; to take that man, that very normal, sympathetic warm individual and put him through this horrific experience. That for me was an interesting challenge and one that I hadn’t done before.

“It’s a complex story and there are some unexpected twists and turns.”

It’s not just playing an ordinary bloke that posed a new challenge for the actor, whose other credits include Grantchester, McMafia and War and Peace. Playing Nice was made by his production company, Rabbit Track Pictures, which means he’s not just the star, he’s also the executive producer.

James says: “Usually, as an actor, you defend your corner of the story as you have your one character and that is your focus…

“On this job I had to slightly split my attention and put as much as I could into Pete… but I also had to retain some attention to how the series was playing out as a whole. As an exec producer I had to also look at the scenes I’m not in, characters I’m not playing and the meta-narrative of the piece.”

Luckily, he’s very happy with the end result, which if he had to sum up in three words, he would call ‘tense, brooding, knotty.’ So maybe not just nice after all…

The second episode can be seen tomorrow.