James Norton hits back at criticism of his controversial new ITV drama
James Norton has pushed back against critics of his new ITV series, Playing Nice, who have called the premise ‘far-fetched’.
The four-part drama, also featuring Niamh Algar, James McArdle, and Jessica Brown Findlay, follows two couples whose worlds are torn apart when they find out their toddlers were unknowingly swapped at birth.
As the parents reckon with the devastating truth, tensions soon begin to brew as the families start turning against one another.
The largely-praised show, based on the Cornish coast, landed on ITV and ITVX earlier this month with some fans complaining they had to ‘suspend their belief’ and that the story is ‘far-fetched’ and simply ‘unrealistic’.
‘Not sure what to think about Playing Nice. There are a lot of ridiculous scenarios,’ @see75 wrote on X. And user @beckywatts echoed that the show was ‘taking ridiculous to the next level’.
However, the 39-year-old actor, who also served as executive producer on the project, has issued his rebuttal to the social media naysayers.
‘Now that I’m producing, you’re looking for stakes and there are no higher stakes than kids,’ he said on Virgin Radio’s Chris Evans Breakfast Show.
He continued: ‘Family, either your parents or your children, they are the thing which you have that 4am anxiety about.
‘So this… I mean, look, I don’t want to push back [but] the people who are finding it too much, it’s drama.’
Elsewhere in the chat, the Happy Valley star pointed out that this nightmarish scenario has happened in real life enough times to even prompt ‘loose guidelines’ being drawn up to navigate the fallout.
He explained: ‘So we read somewhere that under two and a half it’s suggested that you swap them back as quick as you can because the psychological damage will be minimal.
‘Over three, again, the loose suggestion that you leave them where they are because it would be too damaging.
‘So the reason we picked two-and-a-half to three was that it was a very grey area, we’re not quite sure what to do, but the fact that there are vague guidelines goes to show that it has happened a lot.’
The show itself is not based on a real story, but rather a novel of the same name by J.P. Delaney.
In an interview with Metro the actor, who plays dad Pete, reflected on the show’s approach to fleshing out the morally complex situation – and making sure none of the parents (and their motives) came across as black and white.
James also pointed out that the situation is actually more common than people might realise (Picture: Joss Barratt/REX/Shutterstock)
He said: ‘They all love their children, and we didn’t want to paint a broad brushstroke of villains and heroes.
‘We wanted it to feel identifiable and messy and grey and certain elements of Miles are familiar and we feel for him when he says he wants to love his son and similarly with Maddie and Pete – they make mistakes.
‘They are not perfect. Pete is incredibly avoidant and doesn’t step up and Maddie is feisty.’
James also admitted that he even made his fictional son ‘burst into tears’ during the filming of one scene where Pete has to tell him off for eating sweets.
‘We felt like such awful people,’ he recalled.
Playing Nice is now available to stream on ITVX.
James Norton hits back at criticism of his controversial new ITV drama