James Purefoy’s Somerset tour ‘a way of giving something back’

Actor James Purefoy says a tour of village halls across his home county is his way of “giving back” to where he grew up.

Purefoy, 61, grew up in Martock in Somerset and is in the middle of a tour across the county which involves him answering questions about his life and career, which includes film and TV series including The Witcher, Rome and Fisherman’s Friends.

All the money raised from the events will go to the venues which host them, with Mr Purefoy saying he was inspired to hold the tour after judging the BBC’s Make a Difference Awards.

“It just seemed like a good way of perhaps trying to put back and give something back to the communities that I’ve come from,” he said.

‘An Evening with James Purefoy’ will go ahead at Merriott Village Hall at 19:30 GMT on Friday, before further events in Langport, Chiselborough and North Cadbury among other places.

It comes after an initial event at The Muddled Man pub in West Chinnock, which raised £2,500.

“I thought gosh that’s that’s a lot of money you know that’s certainly enough to to give the toilets and the kitchen a bit of a spruce up and a bit of a paint and you know it’s just money that they wouldn’t have had before,” said Purefoy.

“I suddenly started thinking – I wonder if you could roll this out and actually do lots of village halls.”

The evenings are led by a friend, Alice Wilson, who interviews the actor on stage before questions are opened up to the audience.

“I want people to feel that they can ask anything about this strange life that I’ve had and this extraordinary life, actually, in many ways that I’ve had,” said Purefoy.

“They are able to ask those questions and will try to do my best to give them answers.”

Paying tribute to his home county, Purefoy told the BBC he feels “the weight coming off my shoulders” when he returns home from an acting job.

“There’s this fabulous quote in Shakespeare’s King John, where King John has been doing a lot of politicking in London and everybody’s been getting at him.

“He goes to the countryside, and he ends up in an orchard and he walks into the orchard and he goes, he says, ‘now my soul has elbow room’.

“That’s how I feel when I get to Somerset – that my soul has elbow room,” he said.