As the show gets everyone talking, Matt Stokoe has revealed that he never expected to be given the lead role in The Hunt for Raoul Moat, having originally expressed an interest in playing a much smaller part in the true crime drama.
After weeks of build up and the trailer for the true crime mini series being on heavy rotation, The Hunt for Raoul Moat made its debut on ITV at 9pm on Sunday, kicking off its three night takeover of the primetime slot.
The three part drama revisits the events of July 2010 when, just days after his release from prison, former Newcastle doorman Moat headed to ex Samantha Stobbart's home and shot dead her new boyfriend Christopher Brown, before also firing at Samantha.
The killer then shot and blinded PC David Rathband, as the police officer sat in a patrol car on the outskirts of Newcastle, before heading to Northumberland. After a week long search for him, Moat shot himself dead after a final stand-off with police in Rothbury.
READ MORE: Is ITV's Hunt for Raoul Moat all true? Name change, ex's desperate lie and Gazza absence
Playing Moat is County Durham born actor Matt's biggest role to date, having previously appeared in Bodyguard and The Musketeers. But, while he knew he wanted to be part of The Hunt for Raoul Moat, he never imagined he'd be playing the title role.
Speaking ahead of the show's launch, Matt said: “I remember getting a phone call to say they were making a drama about Raoul Moat. I said to my agent, ‘I really want to be part of that in whatever capacity I can be involved.’ Thinking that usually several people would already have been cast and we would be talking about the peripheral parts.
“I remember thinking, ‘That’s going to be a bit of a hot potato. Tackling something like that. They’re going to have to find somebody with a thick skin to play him.’ Not thinking it was ever going to be my problem.
Revealing how things took a turn, Matt added: “Then they came back to me a couple of days later and said, ‘They don’t want to see you for one of the police officers. They want to see you for the role of Moat.’ It was the most frightening thing ever. Which is always a sign that you have to pursue it. That it’s completely out of your comfort zone."
Talking about his fear of playing Raoul Moat, Matt explained: “With someone like Raoul Moat it’s frightening because he still has people out there who support and endorse what he did. It’s always difficult to play a real life character and one that society agrees is evil.
“When it comes to someone like Moat you don’t want your decision to embody that character to in any way be viewed as an endorsement of his behaviour. You have to have empathy as an actor but you don’t want to be seen as sympathetic to him."
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