07 February 2023 , 17:01
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James Norton, who starred as notorious villain Tommy Lee Royce in BBC's Happy Valley has hit out at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over his plans to push all pupils in England to study maths until 18.
The actor shared his frustration with The News Agents podcast hosts Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall.
James was asked about the ways the arts can be opened up for children across the country.
He replied: "Well, first thing you do is you don't follow Rishi Sunak’s advice and make everyone take maths through to A Level and you nurture arts and humanities all the way through school and allow kids to take on courses which aren't necessarily as practical and vocational.
James Norton starred as Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley (BBC/Red Productions)"And so, you that's the most important thing is school," he continued. "I guess, making sure that they are supported and there's outreach programmes from centres of excellence in London and then in other big cities, and they get out to those schools, and they introduce kids to theatre at an early age and so there's an awareness.
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"And then it's youth theatres and I mean, I was so lucky I grew up in North Yorkshire and every summer holidays, I did a youth theatre, it was called Livewire and it was great.
"I went to Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough for work experience one summer and so there was stuff there."
Rishi Sunak wants to extend maths education to 18 years old (Getty Images)
James Norton spoke about the importance of nurturing the arts (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Her)James praised the UK's cultural heritage and spoke of the importance of "nurturing the arts".
"This country's got such a cultural heritage and to waste that... Talk about us standing on the world stage right now," he said.
"I mean, the way shows like Happy Valley travel over to America, it's amazing. I feel so proud when I go over there, and random people come up to me on the street and talk to me about Hebden Bridge… They watch it with subtitles on, but they love it."
James Norton thinks Rishi Sunak's advice should be ignored (BBC/Lookout Point/Matt Squire)"And it's an amazing advert for this country. So, I think we need to keep nurturing the arts," he added.
Happy Valley came to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday as the cat-and-mouse chase between Tommy and Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) finally came to an end.
After a tense confrontation between the two characters, Tommy set himself on fire while Catherine walked away into retirement.
Listen to the full interview on The News Agents podcast this evening on .