Kacey Ainsworth says filming ‘Grantchester’ in last year’s "really hot summer" left her wanting to stick a knitting needle under her wig.
The 50-year-old actress admits the hairpiece was "not a good thing to wear" while shooting scenes in the intense heat, but she was powerless to do anything about her "really itchy" scalp for fear of ruining the continuity of scenes.
Kacey – who plays Cathy Keating in the ITV drama – exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "We filmed the fourth series in the really hot summer and I’m hoping people are watching it going, ‘We want to go back to those days.’
"Because it was really warm in my wig. That was not a good thing to wear when you’ve got a really hot summer.
"It just got really itchy. They try their best but you’ve got this artificial thing on top of your head. You want to get a knitting needle under it. It’s like having a cast on. But you can’t do that because otherwise in the next shot your wig is a bit sideways, so you’ve got to be careful about the continuity.
"But it was really good fun to film, it always is."
The former ‘EastEnders’ actress and her co-stars, who include Robson Green (DI Geordie Keating), have made friends with the locals in the quaint village of Grantchester, and she admits chatting to the villagers helps her to hone her Cambridgeshire accent.
She said: "A lot of the times when you see Sidney’s sermons, or Will’s sermons, the parishioners are actually the people from the village.
"We’re all in the same make-up room, we get to catch-up with them and there’s quite a lot of them who have the Cambridgeshire accent, it’s great for me to have a little earwig and go, ‘Oh yeah, I’m right on that vowel.’ Just to get my head back into the Cambridgeshire accent."
What’s more, the cast socialise with the villagers in many events off-screen, such as cricket matches and BBQs, because they are keen to "get them involved" in the show as much as possible.
She added: "The village is so beautiful, and we get to catch up with the people who live there. This is now our fourth year there.
"We do great social events with them, BBQs, cricket matches and we did a firework display, and we have old fashioned ice cream vendors come in on a bike sometimes. So it’s really lovely, you feel like you’re kind of going home.
"We’re using their village so much we didn’t just want to get them on-side, we wanted to get them involved as well."
‘Grantchester’ series four continues at 9pm on Friday (01.02.19) on ITV.
Kacey Ainsworth wanted to ease Grantchester itch with knitting needle
