A secret LIFE

LENNIE JAMES on playing a dapper Caribbean gent in an uplifting tale

- IAN MACEWAN

MR LOVERMAN MON, 9PM & 9.30PM, BBC1

DRAMA (BOX SET, BBC iPLAYER)

Rolling home late and drunk after a night on the town, sharp-dressed, Antiguaborn family man Barrington Jedidiah Walker isn’t lying when he reassures his angry wife Carmel that he’s never cheated on her with another woman.

What the 74-year-old Londoner (played by Line of Duty star Lennie James) isn’t telling his God-fearing spouse (Holby City’s Sharon D. Clarke) is that he’s actually been having an affair with his best friend Morris De La Roux (His Dark Materials actor Ariyon Bakare) for years! And on that same night, he decides his double life can no longer remain a secret…

This intricate love triangle is at the heart of new eight-part drama Mr Loverman, adapted from the acclaimed 2013 novel (right) by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo and starting with a double bill.

TV Times caught up with Lennie, who turns 59 on 11 October, for a chat around the kitchen table…

Lennie, what do you make of Barrington?

I love the fact that at the heart of this story is such a complex man. You almost don’t know why you like him, and you’re not really sure why you are on his side, but you want things to turn out all right for him!