Grantchester Tom Brittney has played Reverend Will Davenport since 2019 (Image: ITV)
fans will be over the moon to learn that series 10 will be hitting our screens this week, and there’s some new faces moving to the village.
Tom Brittney had starred as Reverend Will Davenport since 2019 after he took over the lead role from James Norton’s Sidney Chambers.
But it was recently confirmed that Brittney would be leaving the period drama, with a new Reverend, played by Rishi Nair, set to make his debut.
Speaking to GB News and other publications, the actor admitted that leaving the role has been one of the “hardest decisions” of his career.
The 34-year-old explained how featuring as the lead role in the series had been the “happiest years” as he reflected on his decision to step away after six years at the helm.
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He will be replaced by Rishi Nair who will portray Reverend Alphy Kotteram (Image: ITV)
In a press Q&A, he confessed: “It was one of the hardest decisions of my life. 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 Couam also shared her thoughts on introducing a new lead to the ITV drama. She admitted: “It’s scary. Change is always scary, isn’t it? And I think 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 the gold the third time as well.
“So we were very lucky, even from the audition, you guys hit it off.” Brittney’s replacement will be arriving at the 1950s Cambridgeshire village as Reverend Alphy Kotteram.
Series stalwart Robson Green, who plays the role of DI Geordie Keating, reassured fans that he wouldn’t be leaving the series anytime soon.
He said: “Why would I leave? 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.
“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].”