IT WAS A CHALLENGE

James Norton opens up about his gritty new role in King & Conqueror and how the 'brutal' action led to a dramatic moment on set

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None He has been at the centre of some of the most talked-about moments on screen in recent years, and now James Norton is set to deliver another memorable performance in the BBC's new primetime historical drama, King & Conqueror.

During a brutal fight scene in this gritty depiction of the battle for the English throne in 1066, the actor, who plays the Anglo-Saxon king Harold of Wessex, left a supporting artist with a bandaged nose after biting him.

"I went through the skin; it was terrible," recalled James, 40, at the show's world premiere in London. But despite his remorse, he calls the bite a spontaneous "stroke of genius" by the drama's director, Baltasar Kormákur.

"I was just getting into it," continued James, who performed his own stunts. "It's those moments where you're in 11th-century England and it's brutal and messy and violent and visceral.

"We had a stunt rehearsal the following day with our incredible stunt coordinator, and the guy came into rehearsal with this huge bandage."