{"id":12134,"date":"2022-03-13T10:00:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T09:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1602012"},"modified":"2022-03-13T10:17:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T09:17:08","slug":"holdings-conleth-hill-this-is-the-best-role-ive-ever-had-including-game-of-thrones-varys","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/holdings-conleth-hill-this-is-the-best-role-ive-ever-had-including-game-of-thrones-varys\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding\u2019s Conleth Hill: \u2018This is the best role I\u2019ve ever had \u2013 including Game of Thrones\u2019 Varys\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Flora Carr\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 13 March 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Conleth Hill is sporting a long, full beard, utterly unlike the clean-shaven face of Varys, the Game of Thrones character the actor is best known for. <\/span>I ask Hill if he\u2019s grown the beard to avoid the show\u2019s fans recognising him on the street. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s always been hard for them [to recognise me], because as soon as I finished shooting, I grew hair again. Thank goodness, no, I\u2019m not really bothered that much, thankfully. And if I am, it\u2019s not a bother. It\u2019s 10 seconds of your time to say, \u2018Thanks very much\u2019,\u201d Hill says, speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> via Zoom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While some actors might resent being forever associated with a single TV show that ended almost three years ago, Hill says it\u2019s a \u201csmall price to pay\u201d for being part of such a phenomenon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I\u2019m used to \u2018Conleth Hill the Game of Thrones [star]\u2019, it\u2019s a double-barrelled name,\u201d he jokes. \u201cBut that\u2019s a small price to pay for being associated with something so brilliant. And I\u2019m not gonna deny it or say, \u2018Well, no, I\u2019m onto something else now\u2019. I\u2019ll always be associated with it until they do a remake. And then it\u2019ll be somebody else. And that\u2019s the way it goes. But I\u2019m grateful for all the work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I mention that the series has already spawned its prequel spin-off series, House of the Dragon<\/a>, starring Matt Smith.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cOh, yeah. But no, that\u2019s their own thing,\u201d Hill says, \u201cand I hope they have half as good a time on it as me. But I have no envy. Nothing but support and admiration for them. I hope they have had as good a time as we did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The puppet-master and eunuch Varys\u00a0 \u2013 a schemer who could always be relied upon to deliver dry comebacks \u2013 was among a number of fan-favourite characters. But for Hill, his favourite role is one that viewers haven\u2019t yet seen: his upcoming turn in Holding, the ITV adaptation of Graham Norton\u2019s novel of the same name, and filmed in West Cork.<\/span><\/p>\n

\""6-4"\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

Hill plays the lead role, local police officer Sergeant PJ Collins, who lives in a sleepy town and relies on comfort food to get him through his half-hearted police work. However, his life changes following the mysterious death of a long-lost local legend.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought he was a really multifaceted character, but [with] none of the kind of cliches that you\u2019d expect from a leading detective,\u201d Hill says of PJ Collins. \u201cSo it was just a gift, and the best part I\u2019ve ever been offered.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

A better part than Varys? <\/span>\u201cFundamentally, Varys was one of many, many different characters in a huge epic, and this was my first number one on the call sheet in my life. So that\u2019s why it\u2019s different; as brilliant as Varys was, and as much as I enjoyed it, he wasn\u2019t the lead. He was the supporting character. Whereas I\u2019m not unaware of the parallels between PJ getting his first murder case in his mid-50s, and me getting my first number one in my mid-50s.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Frequently described as \u201cchameleon-like\u201d in the press, Hill says he\u2019s never been pigeon-holed into certain roles following Game of Thrones, despite its ubiquity: during its broadcast, it was \u201cthe most popular show in the world\u201d, as Hill says. <\/span><\/p>\n

Outside of Thrones, he\u2019s best known for disappearing into other character roles, like the moustachioed <\/span>Mendel Liebermann in Vienna Blood<\/a>. What\u2019s \u201camazing\u201d about his role in Holding, however, is<\/span> \u201cit\u2019s a character lead as well. It\u2019s not a \u2018leading mean\u2019 lead.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hill first came across Holding in its original book form, after his mother bought Graham Norton\u2019s novel for him for Christmas when it first came out. The \u201canti-hero\u201d quality of the unassuming PJ immediately appealed to Hill \u201cas a reader, not even as an actor\u201d. He adds: \u201cI just love the ordinariness of [him], the mundanity of the non achievement \u2013 the outsider aspect of him\u2026 He\u2019ll always be an outsider.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I ask Hill if he thinks viewers unaware of Graham Norton\u2019s books might be surprised by the show\u2019s quiet tone, quite unlike Norton\u2019s public persona. \u201cIt didn\u2019t surprise me, and his humour is still there. It\u2019s very funny and arch sometimes, but he does deal with dark subjects or multi-layered characters. It\u2019s amazing how talented he is,\u201d he says. Norton proved to be a very hands-off executive producer. \u201cI didn\u2019t get any personal notes from him; it\u2019s a nice testament to how much they trust me,\u201d Hill remarks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\""ITV\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

The series, which also co-stars Oscar-winner Brenda Fricker, \u00a0is helmed by director Kathy Burke, who recently told press during a panel Q&A that it\u2019s unusual for character actors like Hill and his co-star Siobhan McSweeney (Sister Michael in Derry Girls<\/a>) to be given leading roles. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is [unusual],\u201d Hill agrees, after I mention Burke\u2019s comment. \u201cIt\u2019s not unknown \u2013 occasionally [a] character actor will get a great lead in something, but normally leads are leading men or leading ladies, and they\u2019re not me and Siobhan. But they [their on-screen characters] weren\u2019t in the book. So it would have been a terrible kind of betrayal to suddenly have these real people represented by fantastically surreal people. So again, you know, that was Kathy\u2019s insistence, [and I\u2019m] grateful for it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a similar vein to detective dramas like Broadchurch, the landscape plays a key part in Holding, providing a beautiful green backdrop and contrast to the murderous goings-on. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe landscape is definitely another character in it,\u201d Hill says. \u201cThe weird thing about West Cork is you\u2019ve got this cosmopolitan element, but you\u2019ve also this still very rural element. And so you have all these\u2026 contradictions within that place. The way they talk about it within the script, you know \u2013 [PJ] says that people looked at a map and decided this was the safest place to live in the world from the fallout from nuclear war. So there\u2019s an argument that it\u2019s a place that people go to hide as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Loved this\u00a0Big RT Interview<\/a>? Check out these\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n