Grantchester star Rishi Nair tells TV Week what’s in store for crime-solving vicar Alphy Kottaram in the 10th season of Grantchester
As the most recent actor to don the liturgical garments in the small English town of Grantchester, actor Rishi Nair recognizes that a murder a week feels like a high concentration of death in one geographical location. Wouldn’t one leave after the third person dies? “After the second person,” laughs Nair, noting, “I mean, the house prices would be really cheap.” But anyone who has seen even a fraction of a season of the cozy crime drama knows that murder is just an excuse to dig deeper into feelings that might otherwise be hard to express. We recently sat down with Nair to discuss the emotional arcs of vicar Alphy Kottaram, D.I. Geordie Keating (Robson Green) and friends in the 10th season of Grantchester.
Now that you have settled into Grantchester, what have you come to love about the genre?
It’s a very cozy drama. And it’s one of those shows that you can watch with your grandparents, your parents, your kids. I don’t think there’s many of those anymore. The amount of shows that seem cool, and I’m watching it with my parents when I go over, and suddenly there’s a scene where I’m like, ‘God, get me out of this room. I can’t watch this with my parents!’ [Laughs] So I really enjoy that I can watch it with my family comfortably.
It also deals with racism, sexism, alcoholism – a lot of isms – in the kindest ways.
It’s a real testament to Daisy [Coulam], the writer and an exec producer on the show. Her writing’s so brilliant that she touches on these subjects, like you said, racism and classism, but in a very light way. It never feels heavy and it never feels like it’s [shoved] down your throat. And there is lot of comedy in there as well, when these themes are being explored, which is really cool.
Was season 10, having established Alphy as a character, easier for you?
It felt like he was coming back home. I felt this real sense of familiarity with it, and I think that’s because all the people — the cast that have been there for so long — felt like a family. When I joined, they took me in and made me one of theirs, and I immediately felt part of that family. The same thing goes for the crew, a lot of the crew are the same people that come back. I think that’s a great testament to the show, that people are coming back because they really enjoy working on it. So, what happens is that we all come back and it’s like Christmas all over again with the family.
The trailer makes the season look very dramatic for Alphy. What is the overall arc that Alphy goes through?
In season nine we saw Alphy come in and he’s all charming, whereas in season 10 we go a bit more inwards with Alphy, and we see the cracks in the paper. There are secrets that he has, that will slowly unravel. And I think a lot of the things that we learned about him in season nine maybe aren’t entirely true. Maybe he’s kept some things hidden. I think it’s much more of an emotional rollercoaster for Alphy in this one. And there’s a little bit more struggle for him in that.
We’re also promised some romance. Who is this woman we meet and is Alphy ready for love?
Yeah, that’s a real big question over the season, and Alphy doesn’t know whether he’s ready for love, to be honest. I don’t think he knows himself. He has a lot going on and what he finds out affects his romantic relationship, so it gives him the push to solve those issues – because he realizes it’s not only affecting his relationship with Meg (Christie Russell-Brown), but also his relationship with Geordie and other characters in the show. At the beginning of the season, there’s this joke that Geordie has — his nickname for Alphy is ‘The Good Reverend Love Him or Leave Him,’ which implies that Alphy has been having a bit of fun, let’s say. And he says to Geordie, ‘Actually I want to find someone.’ And he meets Meg, who is a librarian, and he falls for her in a way that he hasn’t fallen for anyone else. There are really lovely scenes between Alphy and Meg and it’s kind of a ‘will they won’t they.’ But there’s a lot Alphy has to deal with, so whether he’s even ready for that will remain to be seen.
How would you describe the relationship between Alphy and Geordie in Season 10?
Age-wise, it could very easily be a father-son relationship, but I don’t think they are. They’re much more two friends. In season nine we explored that they are a lot more similar than they both thought they were. And in season 10 that carries on. What’s really lovely in season 10 is that there’s so many scenes between Geordie and Alphy where they really open up to each other. And I think that’s quite rare to see between two men, especially in the ’60s. But they really trust one another and they feel like they can open up and they both give great advice. Whether they actually take that and go with it is something else. But it’s a beautiful friendship.
Leonard (Al Weaver) features heavily this season. What is he struggling with?
Leonard’s going through a lot. Something happens in his personal life that he bottles up and that leads to him derailing and turning to alcohol. And something happens in an episode where Leonard gets arrested and there’s a really beautiful scene in the police station where it’s the three of them; Leonard, Geordie and Alphy, it’s just three blokes opening up. I remember when I read it in the script, it was pages and it never ended, but I was so engrossed in it. It was so beautiful because each person had their moment, and by opening up really helped the other two with their issues.
What purpose do you see murder serving on the show? In this village people are dropping like flies.
What I love about Grantchester is that every episode is essentially a new story. It’s one of those shows that, if you missed episode four, you could watch episode five. Obviously, there is a linear story going on with all the main characters, but the main storyline is new. I don’t know what it is with murder, I mean, I guess we as humans are kind of obsessed with that. Whenever I read a new script, I’m always like, I need to make a guess who it’s going to be. And nine times out 10, I’m wrong. It kind of takes me back to when I was a kid and I used to play Clue. I guess Grantchester is like an onscreen version of that.
In terms of tonal differences between your previous work and this one, what is it like to go through the motions of Grantchester?
It’s really lovely. Alphy’s such a great character. And every day is so different. On the surface it seems like a light show, but there are so many darker themes in there, and I really enjoy the variety. Some days are tougher than others because you’re going quite deep and heavy and other days it’s just me and Dickens for the whole day and I’m just having the time of my life.
Grantchester on Masterpiece airs Sunday, July 13 on, WTVS and KCTS