Rishi Nair is joining the ITV series as charismatic vicar Alphy Kotteram.
Robson Green has hinted at what viewers can expect from a major cast change coming to Grantchester.
The eighth season of the ITV drama begins airing on 11th January 2024, but the following ninth season has already begun filming and will mark the departure of Tom Brittney as Will Davenport.
He’ll be replaced by a new vicar – Alphy Kotteram, played by Rishi Nair. Speaking to Radio Times magazine, Green – who plays DI Geordie Keating – touched on the impact of Alphy’s arrival.
“After [Geordie and Alphy] first meet, Geordie’s wife Cathy (played by Kacey Ainsworth) asks him what he’s like, and he says, ‘He’s got a good right hook, and that’s all I know.’ So that’s the ‘in’ for the episode.
“Mrs C (played by Tessa Peake-Jones) refers to him as ‘a swarthy gentleman, not from these climes’, so we deal with that.
“This whole peaceful, hospitable village is flipped on its side as people’s true thoughts and feelings are laid out on the table. This new energy has entered the village.”
Nair will be the third actor to co-lead the series opposite Green, following Brittney – who joined Grantchester in 2019 – and James Norton, who played the Reverend Sidney Chambers from the show’s inception in 2014 until 2019.
Green recently touched on the future of the detective drama, insisting that he would remain part of the cast for as long as series creator Daisy Coulam stuck with it.
“I’m an executive producer, and at the beginning we knew we had something special and that would float the audience’s boat, but we never realised how popular it would turn out to be and how well it would be received around the world.
“But as long as Daisy [Coulam] is at the helm with [executive producer] Emma Kingsman-Lloyd, and as long as we have cinematographers and lighting designers at the top of their game, and we’re all still enjoying it, long may it continue.”
Read more:
- Grantchester returns for season 8 as guest stars confirmed
- Grantchester’s Robson Green discusses when he’ll leave ITV series
The new issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now. Grantchester season 8 will premiere on Thursday 11th January 2024 at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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