Tom Brittney’s Grantchester Farewell Interview
After six seasons of murder and motorcycles, prayers and pubs, Grantchester vicar Will Davenport is leaving the lovely but deadly village, as is the actor who played him, Tom Brittney. In this interview from June 2024, look back at Brittney’s favorite memories from over the years—from a fire-and-brimstone sermon to a fart machine—and find out what he’ll miss the most, where you can look for him in the future, and what bonding experience Robson Green bailed out of sharing with the Grantchester family!
Will and Bonnie are off to a new parish in Newcastle. Do you imagine that Will will continue solving murders once he’s settled in?
Yeah—he’ll find an actual Geordie* Geordie. There’s a whole spin-off show in there! But genuinely, I think it would feel like cheating on Geordie if he went and solved crimes. So no, I think he’ll just stick, maybe for once, to vicaring.
All joking aside, it must have been as hard for you to leave as it was for Will!
Yeah, it’s one of those cases of life replicating art, leaving the show, and I wanted everyone’s blessing. It was such a painful decision, and you hope you haven’t let people down. So I’m very excited for it, but I’m just so proud of being on Grantchester and the tenure that I had. I will care about this show for the rest of my life.
Looking back, do you have a favorite storyline?
Season 7 was my favorite because it was the first, I think, that they’d done of having a crime arc that went the entire series, a serial killer. Also, the ending where I got stabbed was just one of my favorite scenes to film. The tension of that scene, it was amazing. And also, I got to direct.
Do you have a favorite mystery or case?
This one is tough. It’s probably selfish, but it would’ve been in my first series, the one that involved my dad. The wonderful thing about Grantchester is that it’s been an actor’s playground—Will and the others are not just run-of-the-mill kind of two-dimensional crime characters. So having a crime story that mixes the personal with the professional was perfect. I think it was so well executed.
Do you have a favorite sermon?
There’s a sermon I gave in Season 5 [Episode 5] that was an angry one. It was after I found out that the boxing trainer had been abusing the boys. I know that it’s a dark one, but I think it’s a favorite because it was such a fire and brimstone sermon of all the rage within Will, taken out in front of an audience.
And then there was one that I did in Season 9 [Episode 1] when Mrs. C. is trying to mouth something to me in middle the of a sermon and I had to be like, “Stop talking, ssh!” while carrying on, and I quite liked that. That was quite funny.
Do you have a favorite, funniest memory?
There’s one that is incredibly inappropriate, but it was a scene where we’re all sat down in the living room and Mrs. C. is breaking some serious news to us. This is one of the most inappropriate times to laugh, but she says something, and Robson’s next line is, “I’m so sorry,” but he decided that he was going to use a fart machine on his phone between her saying this incredibly serious thing in which you should probably never laugh, and then his line—using a fart machine.
And then his phone died—the battery stopped working, but that didn’t make it any less funny because we still thought that it could happen. And I laughed so much that I had to be kicked out of the room. The director was very angry at me, and we had to film on a weekend—I had to film on my own, like a naughty schoolboy because I couldn’t be in the same room. So that was the funniest one we’ve ever had.
Do you have a favorite scene with Robson?
Oh, I couldn’t pick. I think there’s something about our last scene together—it was one of my favorites in a way that, as painful and as upsetting as it was, it was just so beautiful that it was the cementing of our relationship as characters, but also our friendship in real life. That was really good.
But there’s too many to count. I mean, I spent every single day working with him, and we laughed constantly. So I will reminisce about it and maybe find one, but really, every one with Robson.
What will you miss the most?
I’ll miss being with my Grantchester family every day, laughing on set every single day. And being silly with Robson and messing up takes for everyone else, and them not finding it funny at all because it’s our own little private joke. I’ll miss that.
You’ve met Rishi Nair, the actor playing our new vicar, Alphy Kottaram. Why do you think viewers are going to love him and his character?
Oh, come on and look at him! He’s a handsome fella and he’s packed full of charm with a little bit of mystery behind the eyes. So there’s lots of reasons to tune in for him.
Did you have any advice for Rishi?
I did. I told him that there was one piece of advice that James [Norton, who played Sidney Chambers] gave me that I continued, which was “Just have fun—you’re part of the family now.” So that was my first piece of advice. And then the second piece of advice was to put on the vicar’s vest top before the trousers, because it’s easier to get on that way. And don’t be afraid to ask for help for putting up the dog collar. It was costume stuff, because it really is it a tough costume to get on. It’s five layers of wool, and in the middle of summer, as well!
Did you have any advice for him about working with Robson?
Again, I parroted something James told me, which was, “Just pretend you haven’t heard his jokes before, because he will tell you them over and over again.” And that was the most important piece of advice James gave me. It was great. It’s a skill I still retain with our friendship, although now, I’ve actually told him, “Robson, this is the 50th time you’ve told me this week.”
Have you gone out fishing with Robson yet?
Oh, yeah, we went fishing in Newcastle in the North Sea. He’s obviously a celebrity fisherman, so my first time out, my fishing virginity, was taken by Robson Green, which is the biggest honor of all. We had a great time and we’re going to do it again.
How has your work on Grantchester changed you?
I learned so much from Robson—how to carry yourself as a lead actor, how to lead from the top in the sense that you have much more responsibility. And I was stepping into a show which was famous for being a place that actors and crew wanted to go because it was a really nice family feel. That’s something I want to carry onto other jobs, to make them fun places to be and creative places to be as a director and a producer.
And on that note, I have so much to thank the producers for in trusting me to direct with nothing but passion. I had nothing before to show that I could helm a show, but they let me do it. And now that’s opened up a whole branch in my life. And it’s the same with executive producing and starting a company—learning from the best how to do that.
But also, just as a person, I think I’ve matured a lot. I think. Maybe not—I either matured or got more immature because I spent time with Robson, but it’s one or the other. I do think, in the weirdest way, I learned a lot about myself through playing Will. There was a lot of similarities in his life and mine, I guess, in our character. And so that was something I kind of took on. I think as he grew, I started to try and grow up.
That’s lovely. It’s clear that you’re going to have the incredible opportunities and experiences going forward, but it seems like Grantchester will always hold a very special place in your heart.
Well, a few of us now have a matching Grantchester tattoo. Robson didn’t get one because he’s scared of needles, but Al [Weaver, who plays Leonard] and I have the same little tattoo on the same place on our body, on our ankles. And now whenever we see each other—and he lives down the road from me, so we see each other quite a bit—instead of hugging, we put our ankles together and go “Tattoo brothers!” So we had our first round of tattoos—Al and me, Kacey [Ainsworth, who plays Cathy Keating], and Daisy and Emma, the producers and writer. Tessa [Peake-Jones, who plays Mrs. C.] missed it—she couldn’t do it but she wants to, so we’re going to do a second round, in which I am going to kidnap Robson and force him!
What’s ahead for you, and where can we find you in the future?
Well, either in front of the camera or behind it. I’m off to do this film, Flight 298, which is, I think, the first thing since post-Grantchester, and is very un-vicar-like. It’s an American horror sci-fi film and should be pretty fun. And I’m producing a lot of stuff, trying to get things made, and I’m directing a short film in a couple of weeks that Robson is executive producing. We can’t stay away from each other.
*“Geordie” is a nickname for a person from Newcastle.
