Game of Thrones and Love, Lies & Records star Mark Stanley loves his career of swashbuckling and secrets

IF you’re going to land a job straight from drama school then Mark Stanley reckons he got a goodie – Game of Thrones.

Mark, who stars in new BBC1 drama Love, Lies & Records, appeared as Grenn from the first to the fourth series of the global smash-hit series.

“I went in for an audition for what they were calling a kind of swashbuckling adventure starring Sean Bean,” Mark told iN10.

“And that ended up being the mega-monster it is now.

“It was a fantastic opportunity that opened an awful lot of doors for me as far as other castings.

“And just walking on to the sets in Belfast that had been built from scratch was amazing.

“I’ve never done it, but I’d imagine it was close to a LSD trip. It’s bizarre and hard to take in.

“One minute you have people walking around with cigarettes and polystyrene cups and then the crew back off and you’re doing the scene and it seems an utterly believable situation.

“Your brain engages in the same sort of way it does when you’re using sticks as swords playing in the woods as a kid.

“When we started on it most of us were unknown but the crowds outside the hotel grew and grew from that first series until we realised it had grown into this huge franchise.”

The show is forever a talking point with fans pouncing on every rumour and trying to unearth any little detail about what might be going on.

Although no longer with it, Mark’s association with Game Of Thrones is such that he’s still quizzed about events.

A word of warning, though – don’t believe a word he says!

“People seem to need information as quickly as possible, like getting that new iPhone before anyone else. It’s like an addiction,” he smiled.

“I don’t know what’s going on now so I just make things up.

“I say, ‘Oh yes, I know that this or that is going to happen or that this is how it ends’.”

Mark’s role in Love, Lies & Records, which continues this week, could hardly be more different.

Written by award-winner Kay Mellor, the six-part series is set in a register office and focuses both on the lives of the staff and the stories of those whose births, deaths and marriages are being recorded.

It stars Annan-born Ashley Jensen as Kate Dickenson, who has just been promoted to her dream job of superintendent, as well as Vera star Kenny Doughty and Rebecca Front, from Lewis and War & Peace.

Mark is Deputy Registrar James McKenzie who appears to be content with his lot and devoted to his wife and their two sons.

But the secret he’s been keeping close to his chest turns his life upside down.

“I’ve played characters that swing a sword above their head and this is very different,” admits Mark.

“It was nice to get in touch with this more genteel, feminine side of a character like James. I enjoyed getting my teeth into it.”

There is already speculation about another series being shot later next year but Kay Mellor’s busy schedule has to be factored in.

“It’d all be down to Kay as she’s got so much on at the moment but I’d love to be a part of it again.”

It’s hardly as if Mark is sitting around twiddling his thumbs, waiting for the phone to ring.

He’s playing King Arthur in a revamp of Hellboy and has Sean Bean – whom he also appeared with in recent BBC drama Broken – as his dad in acclaimed film called Dark River due out early next year.

Mark is also one of the cast of the lavish new version of Little Women which we’ll see at Christmas.

Starring in big festive series is nothing new as he played vicious Bill Sykes in Dickensian a couple of years back.

“Like Game Of Thrones you could totally lose yourself on those sets,” he added.

“You’d have this snow falling in Victorian times and then they’d open the doors and you’d be back in the sunshine of one of London’s hottest summers.”

Love, Lies & Records, BBC1, Thursday, 9pm.