After the Flood star Philip Glenister reveals why it was 'nice' not taking on lead role

He’s starred in hit series Life on Mars, Steeltown Murders and Belgravia, but Philip Glenister is happy to pass on leading roles these days.

The 60-year-old actor stars alongside Sophie Rundle, Matt Stokoe and Lorraine Ashbourne in ITV’s newest drama After the Flood but speaking exclusively to HELLO!, he admitted that he was far from disappointed when he was told his character Jack Radcliffe wasn’t the main part.

"I'm of an age now where you don't expect to always be offered the lead so I was quite happy just to be able to come in, shoot for a few days and then I'd be able to go home for a week," Philip confesses.

"Let's just say I'm a lazy [expletive], but it was just quite nice to have that pattern of not being away for long," he adds, before expressing how much he enjoyed filming in his "second home" of Manchester.

"I love it there, and to reacquaint with people on the crew and with Lorraine and the people I’ve worked together with before on Clocking Off and Life On Mars, and it was just lovely."

Despite being based in London, Philip remarks that his love of projects set in small communities goes back to his childhood when he’d watch one of the UK’s most iconic soap operas.

"I think that's why when I was about 14, I got really into Coronation Street," he says.

"I got my nan into it and then my nan got my mum into it and now my mum and dad watch it religiously and I don't watch it at all. I've just always quite liked that all these people know your business. Everybody's got something hidden in their closet, so to speak and in this, we sort of see them come out during the course of the series, you know."

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Philp became a household name in 2006 when he played no-frills 70s police inspector DCI Gene Hunt in the crime drama Life on Mars. He later reprised the role in the sequel series Ashes to Ashes with Keeley Hawes.

Acting certainly runs in Philip’s family; his brother Robert Glenister has starred in shows including Hustle and Spooks whilst his father John Glenister worked as a director. Philip’s wife Beth Goddard, whom he married in 2006, is also in the entertainment industry and is best known for playing Suze Littlewood on BBC comedy series Gimme Gimme Gimme and Kath Shand in ITV drama Big Bad World.