Prestigious theatre award for Irish actor Norton

IRISH actor Jim Norton has scooped a prestigious Laurence Olivier theatre award in London for his performance in Conor McPherson’s play The Seafarer.

Mr Norton, who is primarily a theatre actor, has also appeared in films like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and A Love Divided, but may be best known to Irish audiences for his part as Bishop Len Brennan in Father Ted, where he famously played a champagne-drinking bishop that shared a Jacuzzi with young woman.

Mr Norton won the Olivier Award for best supporting actor in the Dublin playwright’s play, which is set in Dublin on a Christmas Eve when a number of drinking buddies get together to play poker.