Matt Stokoe has admitted he was left 'emotionally drained' by playing Raoul Moat in ITV's new drama about the killer, ahead of its launch on Sunday night.
Having appeared in BBC dramas Bodyguard and The Musketeers, County Durham actor Matt was seen on set in the role of Moat, as filming began on The Hunt for Raoul Moat last year. Matt will play the late criminal, who shot dead his ex Samantha Stobbart's new boyfriend Christopher Brown and left her in hospital, after heading to Birley, just days after his release from prison in 2010.
Moat went onto shoot and blind PC David Rathband, as he sat in his patrol car on a roundabout on the outskirts of Newcastle, before heading up to Northumberland and then being involved in a tense final stand-off with police on a Rothbury riverbank, which ended when he shot himself.
READ MORE: Why Paul Gascoigne has been 'cut' from ITV Raoul Moat drama
Matt is in The Hunt for Raoul Moat cast alongside Inspector George Gently and Line of Duty star Lee Ingelby and Vera actress Sonya Cassidy.
Before the first episode goes out on ITV on April 16, Matt has opened up about the mental repercussions of playing Moat, claiming that it was like Moat was 'living in his house' as he watched documentaries and read books about him, even listening to Moat's police tapes while out on walks.
Matt explained: "I had to start getting stuck into playing the role both physically and psychologically and in terms of my education about him. Every single day had to be working towards playing him on screen. Which was very tiring.
“It was very emotionally taxing. With television you have a limited amount of time to achieve things and to do your research. To put the hours in before you get on to the set and to educate yourself about this stuff."
He added: "“I would never sensationalise it to say it was so traumatic for me or it was such a difficult period. It wasn’t like that in the slightest. And I wasn’t
psychologically affected by it to the point of trauma. But it was just very emotionally draining. A very heavy mindset to be in for weeks on end.”
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