Matthew Lewis cast a spell on the hearts of Harry Potter fans as Neville Longbottom. Since then he has enjoyed stepping into more grounded roles within the Muggle world. For his latest project, Murder Before Evensong, the 36-year-old plays Canon Daniel Clement, the rector of the fictional English village of Champton where the discovery of a dead body has links to his church. The hugely watchable character-driven Acorn TV murder mystery series is set in the 1980s. Amanda Redman plays Lewis’ strong-willed mother, and Amit Shah is a detective trying to solve the case with more than a little help from the rector and his mom.

Murder Before Evensong is based on the novel in the Canon Clement Mysteries best-selling book series by British author, the Reverend Richard Coles. Ahead of the premiere on September 29, Lewis opens up about what drove him to the part as he further ventures outside of Hogwarts. 

Were you familiar with the source material before you signed on for the project? 

Matthew Lewis: I was on holiday in Greece when I was sent the script. I kind of said I was away and wasn’t looking at anything. Then I saw the name Reverend Richard Coles attached to the email, and then I became interested. Richard is someone I’ve been aware of for a long time. I found the fact I was not religious kind of drew me to Richard in the beginning. He is a very keen broadcaster in the U.K. He is a bit of a national treasure these days. He was frequently on panels in the U.K. and did comedy stuff, current affairs things and BBC Radio work.

I found him so thoroughly engaging. He was unlike any man of the cloth. Growing up Catholic, he was certainly not like any clergyman I ever encountered. I was aware of him, but then I discovered he was a pop star in the 1980s and a very good one with number one singles. He really lived the life of the pop star. His autobiography, which I have since read, was sex, drugs, and pop music. He is just a fascinating human being. So I said, “okay, even on holiday I will read this one.” 

What were your thoughts on the script? 

I really dove in. Before I read the books, I read the script. I have to say not only is the story Richard wrote brilliant, but Nick Hicks-Beach, our screenwriter who adapted it…I just think he did such a wonderful job of taking the story and coloring it so much. Richard did a great job. There is no murder until page 100 in the book. He loves this world of Champton and really created his characters lovingly and engagingly.

Then Nick just elevates to another level. He just adds so much depth to everyone. Some of the subplots Nick brings in brings a level of intrigue and darkness and really puts in what went on in Britain at that time. It was before my time. I was born in 1989, so this was years before. It’s so interesting with the class struggles that have been cracked wide open, the social issues we talk about, and the church and its place in this bright new world, brave new world. I think Nick did such a good job. I couldn’t put it down, even on holiday. It drove my wife mad. When I got back, I set up a meeting with David [Moore], the director and Radford [Neville], the producer. I was all in from there. 

I love your dynamic between you and  Amanda as you build on that mother-son relationship. She is a scene-stealer for sure. 

Absolutely. She is amazing. I grew up watching Amanda on television. I remember being younger and would watch At Home with the Braithwaites with my family all those years ago. When they told me it would be Amanda playing my mom, I was very excited. We’d never met before. She has done this for a long time and inherently understands a scene. Whether it’s comedy or drama, she understands the plot points of the journey in a scene. To sit and work with her, even before we go on camera. To plot out these beats of our relationship. Particularly in episodes 5 and 6, you really want them to crescendo. You know there is some bubbling resentment, but you don’t want that to bubble up too early.

Amanda and I were constantly making sure we pitched out at the right level all throughout the series so it would crescendo at the end. I was delighted to do that with her. Watching her work was amazing, even the comedy side. There could be moments that could collapse into the slapstick a little bit or seem over-the-top silly, but she understood not to do that. Places where she knew if she played it straight, that’s where the humor is. She nailed it every time. 

The show delves into social issues of the 1980s. One being what was facing the LGBTQ community. How was it for you to see that explored through this show? 

We came at it with two different perspectives. One of the aspects is the AIDS epidemic, which is not something at its height I lived through. Talking to other actors who did live through it, Amanda being one of them and Richard himself, who was a pop star [in the British duo The Communards] at the time. There was a lot of sex going on, and he was very much in that world as a gay man as well. I don’t think I can do it justice by saying it was horrific because I wasn’t there. What people have described to me, the idea of being terrified of the phone ringing because you’re thinking, “God, who is it this time? Who is it next?” That was because they would go to funerals every week. People were dying at a shocking rate, and not only were people dying, they were being abused and shunned and treated like pariahs all for the sin of getting a disease. 

Daniel, as a reverend, can’t bear this. He is someone who, for him, with the politics of the church at the time and how it is going in a transition with the country becoming more secular and desperately trying not to upset its congregation who are aging. Then trying to tread this line of strictly speaking, we think homosexuality is wrong and this is a gay disease and all this kind of nonsense. For Richard and Daniel, it’s very simple. These people are in need and suffering and as a man of God it is my duty to be there and help them just as it was for Jesus before. I’m not a religious person, but it’s quite clear in scripture what Jesus would do. He would wash the feet of the lepers and treat the sick and unafraid of it. People who were shunned and ostracized by society, those were the people Jesus was drawn to. For me, it would be a no-brainer. For Daniel, it really is, but that comes into conflict with some from the church. That’s the crux of the series and what Daniel is trying to navigate. Does he toe the party line to keep his job and keep being a vicar or does he take a stand and do what he knows is the right thing to do, which is to help these people. 

Photo Credit: Ludovic Robert/AcornTV

You’re known for the Harry Potter franchise. How is it for you to dig into projects like this as you continue on later in your career? 

It’s amazing. I’ve been so fortunate in my life. I say fortune because getting into Harry Potter to begin with was an incredible stroke of luck. Then what do you do after that? I’ve been working five or six years before Harry Potter as a child actor and transitioning into an adult actor through Harry Potter. If that had been the last thing I’d done and had to get a real job, it still wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world. At the time, it was the biggest film series of all-time. I could still have counted myself very lucky. As it is, here we are 14 years since the last film, and people are paying me to do this inexplicably. And so I feel very fortunate. I was lucky in coming out of Harry Potter. 

There was this concern of being typecast and playing wizards or to not play anything at all because maybe nobody could see you as a wizard or Neville Longbottom. I’ve been very fortunate that people, whether out of charity or not, have given me work consistently that is not even close to Neville in all the years since then. Everything has been so different, so detached. I’ve done other things very different from Neville. Every project is a new opportunity, and I love diving into new things. I’m quite drawn to period things. I’ve been lucky to do some Victorian stuff, in the 1930s and now in the 1980s with this. I’m a keen reader and studier of history, so to be able to inhabit those worlds and put on those costumes and walk in the 1980s. It’s something I didn’t realize, but I’m drawn from those projects outside of Harry Potter. 

What are your thoughts on the TV series, and Rory Wilmot cast to play Neville? 

I honestly haven’t really processed it all or thought about it. I think at some point I probably will, and my therapist will be the first to hear about it. I only know about Rory because I think he is from my old neck of the woods. We have mutual friends it seems. So, I guess Neville is canon as being a Yorkshireman, which is nice because I don’t think he was in the books. That feels like it might be a tribute or testament to how I did it, which is nice. Don’t quote that because I don’t know if that is true or not. I do know he is from my neck of the woods. If anything, I’m pleased that a fellow Yorkshireman is taking up the mantle. That’s all I have to say about it really. 

When it comes to Murder Before Evensong, you start to think it’s one thing and then at the end of the first episode turns into something more. The story really grips you. What do you want to say to viewers about what’s to come as the layers are being peeled back of this murder mystery? 

I’d like to emphasize how real this show is in terms of how well the characters are written. They are really deep. It does a lot more than being a murder mystery. At its heart, it’s a good murder mystery and keeps you guessing right up to the end. But around that, there are a lot of questions around society, family, religion. There is lots of character depth that I think will have people interested in characters’ individual stories as well as just the murder. People can lump it a little bit with cozy crime, but I think people who are coming to find cozy crime might find something that actually isn’t that cozy and might put them out of their comfort zone a little bit. There is a little darkness that runs throughout the series. I think people should not come into it too relaxed because you might find yourself surprised and on the edge of your seat.

Murder Before Evensong premiere, September 29, Acorn TV