Pulling into Grantchester in a racy red Triumph sports car, dishy vicar Rev Alphy Kottaram displayed decidedly un-Christian behaviour by punching DI Georgie Keating on the nose
Wincing, as he recalls the moment he assaulted his co-star Robson Green, actor Rishi Nair says: “I was so nervous being the new kid. My first scene was punching Robson in the face and I was like ‘don’t break his nose as I will get my P45.’
“It was scary when I first joined, as they were already in season nine. You get the job and you are super excited and happy and then you think ‘oh God, don’t cancel this show after one season’.
Fortunately, Robson’s face remained intact and so did Rishi’s contract, with the 10th and penultimate series of the show airing its first episode tonight on ITV1 at 9pm.
Joining the show in 2024, former Hollyoaks star Rishi’s violent encounter came when Robson mistook him for a burglar at the Grantchester vicarage. But, in real life, Rishi, 34, says the two men – who solve weekly whodunnits together – are firm friends.
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He says: “When I joined the show there was a chemistry check. But we both love football. Robson supports Newcastle United and I support manchester-united-fc>Manchester United. When I first came in to do the chemistry check I was like ‘don’t mess this up’. But when Robson saw me he gave me a big hug and I felt so relaxed. We just started talking about football for 15 minutes. Within that 15 minutes we had great chemistry. It helped me do the best job I could.”
As Grantchester’s third priest, following in the dog collar of James Norton and Tom Brittney, Rishi laughs recalling how the producer asked him to go shirtless in an early scene, while she was passing him a plate of cake. He says: “That is true. She said ‘maybe in two weeks time?’ And I was like ‘maybe not after the cake!’”
The coveted role means Rishi is now recognised by fans in the street. He says: “I tell them if they want to kind of tell me all their sins, ‘I’m all ears.’ So I’ve heard some stories told to me, but I’m not sure I should probably repeat those.”
Series 10 of Grantchester, which is also broadcast in America on the PBS channel, kicked off on Wednesday night, with the DI and the priest faced with the murder of an old soldier at their local village fair. But Rishi says Dickens, the black Labrador retriever dog, is the real star of the show. He says: “The days when Dickens was on set were my favourite. He just brings so much joy.
“I was in awe of Dickens, because this guy can literally just hit marks, and he knows when to leave the scene, when to come onto the scene. I remember thinking ‘man, this guy’s a better actor than I am’. This is incredible. Dickens just lights up the room when he comes in. No-one wants to work when Dickens is there, because everyone just wants to play with him.”
Grantchester has also highlighted some important issues regarding race, as Rishi plays an Indian vicar living in the mainly white Cambridgeshire community. When the London born actor joined, it was meant to be set in 1961. He says: “When Alphy first arrived in Grantchester, there’s this beautiful scene when he walks into a pub and everyone just stops drinking and they go silent and turn their heads.
“And his first response is, ‘Can I buy anyone a drink?’ He knows what people’s expectations are going to be of him when they see him and see this brown face. But he’s trying to kind of change their minds and trying to do it in a pleasant way and killing them with kindness. For me as an actor, I think it was important to show that is what life would be like. It would be wrong for me to walk into the pub and everyone be my best mate, as that is not what life would have been like in that period. Grantchester is a very white British town. Even today, it’s a bit like that. So I think he [the vicar] knows what he’s coming into and he kind of just approaches everything head on, full throttle.”
Rishi says playing the vicar in scenes set in the 1960s reminded him of stories his grandmother told him about what life was like when she first came to England. He says: “You were just suddenly in this country. You’re a brown woman and there’s just white people and you can’t speak the language. Like, what must have that been like?”
Grantchester has been an invaluable experience for Rishi, who will always be grateful for the prime time TV exposure it has given him. He says: “I just remember growing up as a kid, I loved watching movies, and every time, you know, you would kind of see the lead man on screen and I would always just think, ‘I would love to do that, I would love that to be me.’
“When I was at sixth form college and was about 16 I had to decide what I wanted to do. I used to always love doing drama at school. It kind of felt like a bit of a cheat subject. I was like, ‘how is this on a par with like chemistry and maths?’ And then when I kind of got older and realised people do make a career out of this, I was like, ‘I would love to give that a go.’
“But I was also very conscious that the people that I was seeing on screen that were playing these lead actors that I wanted to be like, none of them looked like me. So I knew that me wanting to do this was a really high risk move. I mean, it’s a high risk move for anyone.”
The risk definitely paid off and Rishi is now looking forward to appearing in a new TV series based on the musical comedy film Bonny Chip. He will be starring alongside Rosie Fox and Deborah Jameson, in the story that follows the plight of a single mother and her pals in Northumberland, who are out to save their local chippy from a property developer.
The makers of Grantchester have expressed their openness to cut a deal with Netflix if the streaming giant wants to buy the show beyond its 2027 contract. It would certainly be a happy place to return to for Rishi, if the suggestion is taken up. He says: “I have loved Grantchester. I will miss sitting with Robson at 6.30am. That is what I am going to miss the most. Grantchester has been a family to me.
“Like anything in life, it’s the people that make it. And being on Grantchester, the group of people, the cast, the crew, all the producers, everything, made it such a lovely, family-orientated kind of working style, which was really lovely.”
Source: Mirror
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