Remember when James Norton blew us all away with his performance as the unnerving Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley? We knew it would take something special to even get close to its brilliance – but, finally, we’ve found his best role since. Nowhere Special is the heartbreaking film that tells the story of a terminally ill single father (played by Norton) with one last duty to take care of: finding a new family to adopt his four-year-old son. And thanks to the BBC, it’s available to watch tonight.

Norton’s character, John, is 35-year-old window cleaner with terminal brain cancer and only weeks left to live – and the story makes for a drama as gut-punching as you might imagine. James told The Guardian how reading the script where Special about?

The 2021 film stars James Norton as terminally ill window cleaner, John, who only has a few months left to live. John is a single dad and almost entirely alone, apart from his four-year-old son, Michael (Daniel Lamont), and we follow him on his heartbreaking journey to find a replacement family to take care of Michael when he dies.

Needless to say, it’s a deeply emotional drama that most viewers will be in tears by the end of. James himself has shared how tough he found the filming process, telling the BBC that reading the script alone made him cry. “Being forced to contemplate one’s death in a very simple way is something I think we run away from most of the time, rather than sit down and meditate on what’s going to happen when you die. It was really cathartic for me to share a little bit of John’s journey,” he explained.

Speaking about the process of building a relationship with his young co-star Daniel, he added: “The most important piece of preparation was finding the relationship with Daniel, and making sure there was a true affection, so weirdly it was a lot of just playing and having fun, and gaining trust from him.

“We got on really well. It was just making sure he really wanted to come to work, and that the love we wanted to capture on film was real.”

Who’s in the cast of Nowhere Special?

The cast of Nowhere Special includes:

• James Norton (Grantchester, Playing Nice) as John
• Daniel Lamont as Michael
• Carol Moore (Three Keenings) as Deirdre
• Valene Kane (Summerwater) as Celia
• Eileen O’Higgins (Brooklyn) as Shona
• Valerie O’Connor (Red Rock) as Ella
• Keith McErlean (Redemption) as Phillip
• Siobhán McSweeney (Amandaland) as Pam
• Chris Corrigan (The Return) as Gerry
• Niamh McGrady (Hope Street) as Lorraine
• Caolan Byrne (Bloodlands) as Trevor

Is there a trailer for Nowhere Special?

Yes, you can watch the trailer for Nowhere Special and get a taste of James’ powerful performance below.

Is Nowhere Special any good?

Yes – it’s one of those rare films that has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with viewers calling it “warm and tender”, “a measured, emotional ripper” and “a beautiful, encouraging story”. Following its release in 2021, Norton was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Actor and, while he missed out on the accolade, we think he fully deserved it – and more