BBC star James Norton broke collarbone in 'painful' accident on King & Conqueror
King and Conqueror is a new BBC drama which tells the story of Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy who began as allies but were destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings
James Norton goes head to head with Game of Thrones star in epic BBC drama
King and Conqueror charts the story of Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy, who started as friends but were fated to clash at the Battle of Hastings.
The BBC drama explores a confrontation that shaped the destiny of a nation – and a continent – for a millennium, with origins stretching back generations through two intertwined Royal dynasties battling for dominance across two kingdoms and a turbulent sea.
Though neither Harold nor William initially harboured ambitions for England's throne, both men became consumed by their desire to claim the crown.
Much of the production was shot in Iceland, with James Norton portraying Harold whilst also serving as an executive producer.
The shoot proved quite dramatic, as the cast revealed during a Q&A session, discussing nose-biting incidents during combat sequences and bone fractures, reports the Daily Record.
James Norton broke collarbone on set of BBC drama King & Conqueror
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James admitted: "I literally bit his nose, the poor guy. I went through his skin. It was terrible."
The performer continued by disclosing that the stunt performer arrived at the following day's rehearsal sporting a "huge bandage". However, James maintained that incorporating the nose-biting was a "stroke of genius" as it demonstrated how "messy, violent and visceral" battles truly were.
Yet that wasn't the sole mishap onset, as the leading man fractured his collarbone. Co-executive producer and Rabbit Track co-founder Kitty Kaletsky disclosed that James had tumbled from his horse whilst filming.
"It ended up being great because James had a break scheduled," Kitty laughed.
James added: "It was painful but luckily this goes to show how incredible and collaborative this crew was and we managed to sort of deal with it.
"It was during a rehearsal and I fell off and landed on my shoulder and actually it was a remarkably quick recovery.
"It was quite painful. For the latter half of the shoot, some of those battle scenes I'm yelping very loudly and the yelps are pretty authentic."
James Norton is leading new BBC drama King & Conqueror
However, it wasn't only James who endured a somewhat painful ordeal, as his co-star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau disclosed that during one scene in episode five, a stunt performer was rendered unconscious.
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He revealed: "We had rehearsals where there was a guy knocked out. I mean they go so close, right? And it was a mistake both of them. I mean you should always be able to hold your fist but the other guy, he instead like holding the distance, he kind of moved forward right as he was swinging.
"And they were also you know MMA fighters. So his tooth went out, blood out. And then the other guy, of course, because he hit the tooth, broke [his knuckle], he had to have stitches in his hand as well."
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