Hard work has made actor James Nesbitt lucky in life… but not on the golf course

JAMES NESBITT may play a luck-controlling detective in Sky One drama Lucky Man – but that’s far from where his good fortune ends.

The actor has enjoyed a three-decade career, from his early days on stage to countless TV hits that followed such as Bloody Sunday, Murphy’s Law, Jekyll and Occupation.

Not to mention his film success with Five Minutes Of Heaven and The Hobbit trilogy.

“Michael Winterbottom, who I did a lot of jobs with, always used to say, ‘Your next job is your first job’ and that was really just about not getting complacent, and being grateful for the privilege of luck,” begins Nesbitt, 53.

“Funnily enough, I really have been a lucky man in terms of my career.

“But you work hard to be lucky in this business, and I feel that as long as people are prepared to keep watching me, hopefully people will be prepared to commission things, and I’ll be very happy to do them.”

If the past three years are anything to go by – Nesbitt has nailed the likes of a tormented father in The Missing, a killer dentist in The Secret and, of course, reprised his role as the lovable rapscallion Adam in cult hit Cold Feet – there’s plenty more to come.

Now the Northern Irish star is pleasing superhero fans with a third instalment of comic book legend Stan Lee’s creation, Lucky Man.

The British crime drama – Sky’s most successful original drama to date – follows the trials and tribulations of Detective Inspector Harry Clayton (Nesbitt), who while struggling with a gambling addiction and debt, discovers an ancient bracelet that grants him the power to control luck.

While the second season bowed out with a dramatic showdown, the third run sees Clayton in Hong Kong where he is looking for answers about his “lucky” charm.

It’s here he comes up against some nasty underworld characters who have their eyes on more than just his bracelet.

“He comes across the biggest arch-nemesis he’s had in any of the three seasons: Samuel Brake, played by Rupert Penry-Jones,” Nesbitt explains.

“So right from the off, it’s much more ambitious.

“The scale of it is bigger, the comic book genre is explored further and we have the backdrop of Hong Kong.

As for the magic bangle, Nesbitt, who once said wearing it took some getting used to, has become quite attached. “Now I don’t know if it’s on or it’s not!” he says with a smile.

“I took one – they gave me one at the end of last season – so I used it when I was playing golf over in Portrush.

“I wore it one day, but it’s going to take more than a lucky bracelet to change that!

“But it’s become a real part of me, and I shall miss it, actually.

“And bizarre people – Alex Ferguson or somebody – will go, ‘Have you got the bracelet on?’

“It really appeals to people, such a simple notion.

“And the idea of luck is something that we all live with. At some point in your life you think, ‘If only I could control that’.

“I think it’s unlikely that I’ll play another superhero – I’m 53 – but it’s been a real voyage of discovery and I’m delighted.”

In reality, finding the time to do so would be quite something.

Today Nesbitt has come full circle, for 20 years after landing his breakthrough TV role in the award-winning Cold Feet, he is back filming the show’s eighth series, following a successful reboot and subsequent seventh series.

“It was good that it was a success,” he says of its 2016 revival, after what had been a 13-year hiatus.

“I was resistant to doing it for years, then the good scripts came up, and I’m really excited about what we’re doing with it.

“I’m very privileged in that I can take time.

“I’ve known what I’ve been doing for the next year or so for a number of years now, and that’s an extraordinary privilege.”

Lucky Man, Sky One Friday, 9pm.