DEVIL NEXT

Andrew Lincoln falls under the influence of his menacing new neighbour in a dark and twisty thriller

- By Sean Marland

As lawman Rick Grimes in zombie drama The Walking Dead, we've been used to seeing Andrew Lincoln as a courageous hero and leader, keeping his friends and family safe from hordes of terrifying walkers.

But it's a very different character we meet as Lincoln makes his long-awaited return to British screens in ITV1's dark and mysterious thriller Coldwater.

In the six-part series, he plays repressed and cowardly stay-at-home dad John, who suffers a crisis when he fails to intervene in a violent altercation at a children's playground.

'This is a bit of a palate cleanser from Rick Grimes,' says Lincoln. 'It was a great opportunity to play someone diametrically opposed to a hero and to look at another version of masculinity. But I was quite scared about playing a character that's so unpleasant, weak and emasculated.'

Desperate to escape London and memories of his embarrassing lack of action, John convinces his author wife Fiona (