While fans will instantly recognise Richard Armitage thanks to his roles in the likes of The Hobbit trilogy, Spooks, Hannibal and Robin Hood, he is also a published crime author.
And this dual passion led to him admitting to HELLO! and other media that when he was filming for Winter, ITV's new six-part crime thriller, he could be a bit of a "nightmare". He confessed: "I might have been a little bit of a nightmare for the writers and producers, a little bit of a thorn in the side when it came to detail and little tiny holes where the story can drain through.
"I was there with my needle and thread stitching up those tiny holes, going, 'You've got to fix this'.
"Having said that, I do also think these stories in this show are challenging. They're difficult to solve, we're not going to spoon-feed the audience an easy plot that they can figure out for themselves. Sometimes all of the inconsistencies work really well because you're like, 'I can't put this jigsaw together'."
Richard stars in the new series as Dr Ethan Winter, a forensic pathologist who works with DI Lauren Bell, played by Annabel Scholey, while also trying to discover the truth about a tragic incident in his past.
What is Winter?
The six-part series is based on the French show Balthazar, which starred Tomer Sisley as Raphaël Balthazar, an unconventional pathologist who doesn't always play by the rules. The show aired for five seasons between 2018 and 2023.
© ITVAnd both Richard and Annabel shared their hopes that Winter could last that long; no decision has been made on the series' future ahead of its airdate. "I've been looking for a role that might be returnable for a long time, and it's quite a tall order, because in order to sign on for something you need to play that person over and over again," Richard explained. "The last time that happened to me was on Spooks.
"There's got to be enough sort of fuel in this character to sort of expand over hopefully four or five or six seasons. I thought there's enough here for it to be dynamic and enjoyable. It's the kind of show I would like to watch."
© ITVAnnabel concurred, saying: "It's very attractive to be in something where you could explore the character over and over again. I really loved the dynamic between Winter and Bell; I thought that had a lot of potential in it for not only the drama but the humour particularly."
Working with Annabel Scholey
Due to Winter's consistent rule-breaking, which is clear from the first episode, he and DI Lauren Bell don't always have the easiest of relationships, but this wasn't the case for Richard and Annabel, who enjoyed working with one another.
Richard said: "People will come to this show for the plots, but they'll stay for the characters, and so the characters are sort of 100% dependent on the other characters, and that the relationship that you're going to want to watch explode, implode, connect, disconnect.
© ITV"Luckily, we really like each other, and we found that in the rehearsal process and in the script breakdown that we were on the same page. Our job was to find the thorns and the razor blades between them, rather than the accord, because the accord comes easily. It's watching them butt heads which is the more difficult side of it. I did start to take it quite personally. I was like, 'I thought she liked me!'"
Winter premieres on 30 September at 9pm on ITV1, with new episodes airing every Wednesday.
