Luke Evans 'selfishly' found himself a leading role in new TV drama

Hollywood actor Luke Evans has said he "selfishly" found himself a leading role in a new TV drama, The Party.

The Pontypool-born actor, who is also an executive producer of the five-part series, came up with the idea to adapt the acclaimed novel by Elizabeth Day into a drama for the screen.

After reading the book, Evans said he thought to himself: "This is just so fun. It's my kind of story. I love the narrative. I love the characters. Selfishly, there was also a great leading role that I could play."

Evans will star as Martin Gilmour, a journalist shaped by his lifelong friendship with a wealthy and charismatic politician played by Aberystwyth-born Tom Cullen.

Evans brought the idea to World Productions, who he previously worked with on The Pembrokeshire Murders, and said: "I think we should do this together."

The actor said it did not take much to convince them, adding: "It was a no-brainer really."

The thriller moves between the birthday party of Cullen's character, Ben Fitzmaurice, and a police investigation that follows.

Evans previously said he drew on his own experiences to play the character, who is described as a "calculated and buttoned-up man".

"I think that's probably why I resonated with the story when I read the book," Evans said.

Evans said coming from a "very working-class background" helped him understand his character's choices.

"Even though it probably wouldn't have been my choice of journey, I understood him.

"I got the fact that, through a strange route, this man got what he wanted and succeeded. He came from nothing, but was very clever, almost chameleon-like, in how he could adapt and observe and blend in, and I just thought it was very interesting," he said.

Evans said Gilmour is treated like "an outsider by almost everybody" in the drama which starts on Sunday on ITV.

"This kid gets an opportunity to go to an Eton-style school. But he sticks out like a sore thumb and is treated as an outsider by almost everybody.

"I have always felt like an outsider myself," Evans said, recalling when he first began working in the film industry.

"When I first became a film actor, I didn't feel like I belonged.

"I didn't feel accepted in the way I saw other people of my age and peer group being accepted. So Martin resonated a lot with me."

"I also admired him," Evans added, because despite the obstacles he faced, as "it didn't stop him from keeping going".

"He was a fighter. He was able to manoeuvre himself into the right places, so the opportunities arose. It's a very relatable story."

Evans said portraying Gilmour also reminded him of when he started musical theatre college in London.

"I was the only Welsh person there. I felt like my accent stood out among all these English accents," he said.

"I hadn't been brought up with the idea that I would go to musical theatre college. I was a Jehovah's Witness," which Evans previously said led him to hide his sexuality.

"I was brought up thinking I was going to become a window cleaner, and knock doors... So I related to that side of Martin as well.

"He had to change his story and needed to be seen around certain people for him to progress. I just thought it was really brave of him," Evans said.

"Martin saw the landed gentry with their long drives and their big gates and their crumbling country piles, all expecting their children to inherit and do something grand and remarkable with their lives. But nothing was really expected of Martin.

"Martin just expected things of himself."