Grantchester star Robson Green's health scare on set of ITV show

Robson Green once thought he was having a heart attack after drinking five espresso coffees on the set of ITV's Grantchester. 

The actor's co-star Tom Brittney, who plays Will Davenport, shared the anecdote during an appearance on Wednesday's edition of This Morning alongside his successor Rishi Nair ahead of the new series of the detective drama.

When asked about any advice he had passed onto Rishi, who makes his debut as Reverend Alphy Kotteram in the season nine premiere, Tom warned his co-star not to give Robson too much coffee during filming after he feared he was having a heart attack.

"Did I tell you about this? Don't give him too much coffee," he said of his co-star, who plays DI Geordie Keating in the popular period series. "In one series, he had an espresso machine installed in his trailer and had five espressos before nine o'clock and thought he was having a heart attack. We had to get a medic," explained Tom, prompting laughter from hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley.

"It was like, 'Robson, you've had too much caffeine'," recalled the actor. 

© Stuart Wood, ITV

Season nine makes its long-awaited debut on Wednesday night and will mark Tom's final outing as Will Davenport, having announced his departure back in 2023. 

Opening up about his decision to leave the show, Tom recently said: "Well, it was one of... it was the hardest decision of my life.

© Kudos Film and TV

"I've spent five or six years – and the happiest years of my career so far – doing Grantchester and playing a character which just has so much depth and complexity. It was just a happy place," he continued (via RadioTimes.com).

"But I think all good things have to come to an end, and it just felt like the right time to put a full stop, let's say, on Will's story and see where they take the story without him."

The new series opens in 1961 and life is good for Will and Geordie, whose families are always together. But when Will is offered a "life-changing offer", he questions whether he can leave Grantchester, and his best friend Geordie, behind. 

© Kudos/ITV/MASTERPIECE

The synopsis continues: "As Geordie struggles with personal loss and ever-growing family conflict between Cathy and teenage daughter, Esme he has no one to turn to. But when he arrests an intruder breaking into the Vicarage, he may find his days of working with a Vicar are not over.

"Reverend Alphy Kotteram has an instinctive distrust for authority and absolutely no desire to get involved in murder investigations.

© PBS

"But Alphy and Geordie will discover they have a lot more in common than they first think, and Alphy will find that in Grantchester, murder is never far away."

It concludes: "From deadly circuses, abandoned babies, and hostile historians to vanishing valets and murderous satirists, together, Geordie and Alphy witness first-hand how religion can be corrupted, but also how faith, love and friendship can offer hope – and renewal."

Grantchester series nine begins on Wednesday 8 January on ITV at 9pm.