Grantchester's Kacey Ainsworth reveals secret to working with Robson Green

The former EastEnders star opened up on working alongside the Soldier Soldier star in the ITV period detective drama on The One Show.

Kacey Ainsworth as Cathy Keating and Robson Green as Geordie Keating in Grantchester (ITV)
Kacey Ainsworth plays's Robson Green's wife in Grantchester (ITV)

Kacey Ainsworth has revealed the Grantchester cast have to be careful around Robson Green until he has had his first cup of coffee of the day.

The former EastEnders star opened up on working alongside the Soldier Soldier star in the ITV period detective drama on The One Show on Tuesday, 4 February.

Ainsworth insisted to hosts Lauren Laverne and Roman Kemp that Green is "definitely not high maintenance" but said everyone had to laugh at all his jokes and make sure the actor got a cup of coffee when he needed one.

Kacey Ainsworth  in Grantchester
Kacey Ainsworth has written the latest episode of Grantchester herself. (ITV)

Ainsworth plays Cathy Keating, the wife of Robson Green's character Geordie Keating in Grantchester. She appeared on The One Show to discuss writing the latest episode of the detective drama. Asked if she had given any advice to Rishi Nair when he joined the series as new vicar Alphy Kotteram, she said: "It was you have to laugh at all of his jokes like you've heard them the first time — act surprise, surprise. I would say just make sure that Robson's had a nice cup of coffee in the morning, that would help."

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Laverne quipped: "Robson's sounding quite high maintenance..."

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Ainsworth interrupted: "No, he's definitely not high maintenance! He's absolutely brilliant. I mean he's one of the executive producers and was really, supportive of me doing this, doing the writing of the episode, So yeah, I mean, he's fantastic... After a coffee."

Ainsworth — known for playing Slater sister Little Mo in EastEnders between 2000 and 2006 — revealed she had approached the producers of Grantchester with the idea to write an episode of the show as she wanted to explore the female characters in more depth.

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She explained: "For quite a few years I've kind of suggested ideas for Kathy and for other characters, because the production company brilliant, they're always really up for that. And then I thought you've got to put your money where your mouth is, because, you know, talk is cheap, isn't it? So I thought I had a really good idea for an episode, and I went to see Tessa Peake-Jones, who's also in Granchester, and I ran it past her and I said, 'What do you think?'

"And the show's so strong that I felt like we could almost like turn it a little bit on its axis and have an episode that was female-centric and was about the females in the show. 'Cause we've got a really brilliant age range — we've got Skye [Degruttola who plays Ainsworth's on-screen daughter Esme Keating], who's 19 now, been with us since she was nine, and then we have Melissa ]Johns] playing Miss Scott, and then myself and then Tessa.

"So we've got like a really huge range of women. And quite a lot in period dramas, sometimes they're portrayed very stereotypically. It's just about, you know, being wives, mothers or objects of desire and all of that kind of stuff. So I kind of wanted to deepen that."

Katherine Ryan, Violet Edelman and Bobby Kootstra attend the Champagne Taittinger reception at the 2024 BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises at The Royal Festival Hall on May 12, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
Katherine Ryan said she does not believe it is possible for working mothers to 'have it all'. Getty Images for BAFTA)

Comedian Katherine Ryan was on the show to discuss her family reality show At Home With Katherine Ryan. The successful stand-up and TV presenter and mother-of-three claimed that she had learned it is not possible for women to have it all.

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She said of being a working mother: "I do struggle with it because I've had different lives. I was a single mother to Violet for a decade, and now I have this big family with loads of support, but I'm still the mom and the children, you know, it's so terrible to see a baby break down while you leave the house.

"And of course, I can afford childcare and my husband stays home, but I think we tell women, you can have it all, and I've learned you can't have it all, at least not at the same time.

"Something does have to give. And I made some professional sacrifices, and now I'm back on tour, not traveling to the moon, but you know, Leicester. And it's difficult for me, and I feel that push and pull, and I don't even have an important job. I'm a clown. I'm not in the front lines of the NHS, but I still leave the house every evening.

"I'm gone for bedtime a lot, and I have guilt about that. I have, sadness about that, and I think it's unavoidable."

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The One Show airs on BBC One at 7pm on weekdays.

Grantchester airs every Wednesday at 9pm on ITV1, and all episodes are available on ITVX.

At Home with Katherine Ryan season 2 airs on U&W from Wednesday, 5 February.