James Nesbitt struggled with Northern Ireland being seen as ‘place of conflict’

Cold Feet star James Nesbitt has said he struggled with the world perceiving his home in Northern Ireland as a “place of conflict”.

The 60-year old actor, who stars in Netflix’s eponymous adaptation of Harlan Coben’s 2019 thriller Run Away, grew up at a “distance” from the Troubles – a term used to describe the nearly 30-year long sectarian conflict that came to an end in 1998.

Despite this, he opened up about the impact the conflict had on him and his community, specifically the way people perceived his home.

Speaking on BBC Radio 6, Nesbitt said: “I grew up in Northern Ireland, distanced from the Troubles, but it was only up the road.

“It was difficult to kind of come from a place that you loved so much, but the rest of the world were viewing it as a place of conflict, which it was, obviously, but also a place that you didn’t want to go to.

“I think a lot of us felt kind of angry about that and that it was misplaced.”

Nesbitt starred in ITV drama Cold Feet for decades before taking on roles in a number of Coben’s thriller adaptations including Stay Close, Missing You and its most recent eight-part series, Run Away.

In the new thriller, Nesbitt stars as Simon Greene, who works with investigator Elena Ravenscroft, played by Gavin and Stacey actress Ruth Jones, after his daughter Paige, played by Ellie de Lange, runs away from home.

Praising his co-star Jones, he said: “She is just magical.

“It’s funny, we hadn’t met before, which was quite odd at our stages of our careers, and we never worked together but we form an unlikely alliance in the show.

“The two characters are quite disparate characters.

“I think to carry a sniff of authenticity you have to kind of get on well off camera and we really did. We really clicked.

“She’s just brilliant, funny, accessible, so down to earth, and she really delivers a great performance.”

Nesbitt has also starred as civil rights activist Ivan Cooper in the 2002 film Bloody Sunday, appeared in The Missing, Occupation and Murphy’s Law, as well as portraying Bofur in The Hobbit trilogy.

The actor was nominated in 2008 for a Golden Globe for his lead role in Steven Moffat’s Jekyll and in 2016 was made an Officer of the British Empire in recognition of his services to drama and to the community in Northern Ireland.