Tommy Lee Royce is currently getting back under the skin of Happy Valley viewers as the villain, played by James Norton, causes more trouble in the show's final season. The gritty BBC drama returned to screens earlier this month and each episode of the six-part series so far has had viewers gripped from start to finish.
Fans have been tuning in every Sunday to BBC One for their next fix of the final installment - seven years after series two hit screens. And as we enter the latter stages of the third and final season, all eyes are on Tommy following his dramatic escape from prison. His return to the show, despite being in prison, came after Sergeant Catherine Cawood discovered that her grandson Ryan, and her late daughter's rapist, was visiting his dad behind bars.
It soon transpired that the visits were being facilitated by Catherine's sister, Clare Cartwright and her partner Neil Ackroyd. There was then a strange exchange between Tommy and his son in which he got him to promise he'd attend his court hearing in Leeds. Against his family's wishes, Ryan headed to see his dad in the dock.
However, it wasn't too long before the bad boy character, following a hair transformation in his prison cell, was out of the court and on the run. And while viewers love to hate Tommy, they are full of admiration for James Norton and his ability to transform into the evil character.
James, who was born in born in Lambeth, London, before living with his teacher parents and younger sister, Jessica, in Malton, in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire. He went to the Bramcote Prep School (Scarborough College) in Scarborough until the age of 13 before moving on to Ampleforth College, an independent Roman Catholic boarding school in the village of Ampleforth in North Yorkshire.
And his interest in the arts started at a young age as at 15, James was doing his work experience at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Fast forward through the years and the actor found himself reading theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 2007 with First Class Honours.
But James, now 37, didn't have the easiest time at school. Speaking previously on the Comfort Eating podcast to Grace Dent, he said: "My school years were complicated. I didn't have the greatest time. I was quite badly bullied for five years and I was at boarding school so I couldn't leave.
"I've had a great therapist for the last four years, and it's not from a place of drama. And I'm luckily not suffering from depression or anything like that but it's been really, really helpful to understanding what [happened to me at school]."
However, he has previously praised the 'enormous amount of support and solace' he received 'from a couple of the monks' when he was being bullied, and said that as a deeply religious teenager, he was grateful for the chance to 'sit and contemplate, and pray' three times a day. "I was grateful for that. It wasn’t therapy, but it was a moment of pause and meditation, in this incredibly lush valley," he told The Guardian.
But it was at university when James began starring in theatre productions as a member of The Marlowe Society theatre club before landing his first film role opposite Carey Mulligan in the 2009 film An Education. The following year he was an original cast member of Posh at the Royal Court Theatre and his career on stage began to blossom.
He also starred in a few more films, including Cheerful Weather for the Wedding where he played Owen, the would-be groom of a conflicted bride and as Formula One driver Guy Edwards in Rush in 2013. His first TV role, however, came in 2012 when he played James Blackstone in an episode of Inspector George Gently.
Roles in Restless, Blandings, Doctor Who and Death Comes to Pemberley followed and it wasn't until 2014 that he got his first starring role as crime-solving vicar Sidney Chambers alongside Robson Green as Police Inspector Geordie Keating in the ITV series Grantchester. The same year he first appeared on screen as Tommy in Happy Valley, a role he quickly became acclaimed for.
Away from his career on-screen, James is loved up with his model and actress fiancee Imogen Poots. The couple are very private when it comes to their romance, however, it is reported that the pair met in 2017 whilst acting together in London's West End, and confirmed their relationship in December the same year.
Both Imogen and James rarely comment on their relationship and Imogen telling the Evening Standard in 2020: "I'm not a fan [of social media] because I'm seeing what it's doing to the generation below me, and that's really sad with mental health." However, despite keeping their romance away from public view, the pair did confirm their engagement last year.
Imogen, 33, is a fellow actor who is best known for her roles in 28 Weeks Later, Knights of Cups, Outer Range, I Know This Much Is True and That Awkward Moment. She most recently appeared in Outer Range, an American science fiction neo-Western on Amazon Prime.
And it appears James is also hoping to start a family one day. He previously admitted his role in 2021 Nowhere Special made him feel broody. The film saw him play a terminally ill father with a young son, which led to James confessing: "It definitely made me broody. I’m 35, I'm in a long-term relationship, my sister has two boys who are under three - the film really made me think about having children."
Back in November 2022, James shared an impassioned post about his type 1 diabetes diagnosis, in a bid to raise awareness for World Diabetes Day. Type 1 diabetes causes the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood to become too high. He branded the condition, which causes the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood to become too high, a "complete b***h" as he called for his Instagram followers to show their support to help find a cure for the disease.
Alongside photos with his two insulin pens and Dexcom sensor, which monitors glucose in the blood, he wrote on the social media platform: "Today is World Diabetes Day. It’s a day to raise awareness about diabetes. But also to simply show some love and support for all the diabetic warriors out there.
"At its best, our condition is a constant faff. At its worst, it’s a complete b***h that can be potentially life-threatening on a daily basis, if it’s not looked after properly. These two insulin pens I’m holding, as well as the @dexcom sensor on my bum, keep me alive every single day."
He added: "You have no idea how valuable these small devices are to us T1s, and how grateful I am to live in a country where we have free access to this type [of] medicine and tech. That said, a cure would be nice. So go visit @jdrf_uk to see how you can get involved. And then go find a diabetic and buy them a Diet Coke."
Earlier this month, James also shared how he keeps going on stage despite having the genetic condition as he is due to take to the stage in March in A Little Life, a play adapted from the 2015 novel by American writer Hanya Yanagihara, which is 3.5 hours long He said on The Graham Norton Show: "The added component is that I don’t leave the stage for a couple of hours and I am a type 1 diabetic, so I have juice, and I can’t bring it up because it’s got branding on it! But I have sweet things which I’ll have to have scattered around the stage just in case I go hypoglycaemic."
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