The actor was spotted using the tomb as a DINNER TABLE whilst filming the fourth series of ITV’s crime drama, Grantchester, in which he plays a vicar. Norton and fellow Grantchester clergymen Tom Brittney and Al Weaver were seen spreading out their picnic on the tomb in the graveyard of St Benet’s Church, which is the oldest building in Cambridge.
The trio supped on salad and diet coke and used napkins as they enjoyed their lunch on the family tomb of Sam Newton, who died in 1718, aged 64. His wife Elizabeth Watson and their nine children, six sons and three daughters are also buried there. It comes after a family were caught having a barbeque on a tombstone in a cemetery in Leeds at the weekend.
Local Peter Tayler said: “I was shocked when I spotted James Norton and other actors eating their lunch on the tomb, it shows a total lack of respect.”
Norton, who is tipped to be the next James Bond, was filming at the Grade 1 listed church two weeks ago. It is his final series playing vicar Sidney Chambers, with Outlander actor Tom Brittney taking over as the new vicar of Grantchester, Reverend Will Davenport.
St Benet’s Church Tower was built in 1020 and it was the chapel for the adjacent Corpus Christ College until 1579. Michael Ramsey, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury, was vicar in 1938.
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