‘I’d got lost: Cold Feet’s Jon Thomson turned to partying and drinking to cope with the ‘scary’ success of the show

AS Cold Feet fans eagerly-await the return of their beloved show after a 13 year gap, Jon Thomson has revealed that the show’s success pushed him into a hedonistic lifestyle.

The award-winning show ran from 1998 to 2003 and made household names out of the cast, some of whom went to on find success in Hollywood.

But Thomson has admitted the success from the show became like a noose around his neck as he threw himself into partying and drinking to cope.

Speaking to Event magazine, he said: “I'd got lost. At the time the Nineties seemed great for me, but I was living a hedonistic lifestyle. I moved to London and lived there for ten years. Every day was a groundhog day of private members’ clubs and parties and it just got too much.

‘I knew something had to change and I moved back to Manchester. I stopped partying. I focused on my family. You learn from your mistakes. I stopped drinking on December 29, 2006.”

That was three years after the show ended and he had no qualms about returning to the show 13 years later and reprising his role as the hapless but lovable Pete Gifford.

He said: “I’m older, wiser and a very different man. When you are younger you can’t handle things. None of us knew how massive Cold Feet was going to be. That sort of thing can be very scary.

“I realised how lucky I was to have my family and this job that I loved. You come back on set here and it just reinforces that. I’m lucky to have got this chance to do it all again.”

His co-star James Nesbitt, whose career rocketed off the back of the show’s success, returns as Adam Williams – and he said he was up for a reunion from the moment it was first mentioned.

He said: “‘I was definitely not going to be Posh Spice. I was in from the start. This is something very special to me.”

But he also admitted he was feeling nervous and “feeling the fear” but said: “Coming back together for the first time at the first read-through was actually great. It wasn’t a Spice Girls reunion. We were all actually quite nervous.

“It was all of us, older, changed a bit but not really changed that much at all. If anything I think we are all closer now.”

Fay Ripley, who stars as Pete’s long-suffering wife Jenny, said she was the most nervous but added: “It’s a weird feeling to go back. It was so bizarre walking into the room but within minutes it felt like we’d all just been together yesterday. I remember looking round at everyone and thinking we all looked really good. “

Hermione Norris, who stars as Karen Marsden, said she didn’t want to reunite the show and thought going back to it would be a huge mistake.

She said: “Every bone in my body was telling me not to do it, leave the past in the past, because you risk spoiling something millions of people genuinely loved.

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“I didn’t feel good about it until we went to the read-through and then I just relaxed – there is something about this group of actors that just works. I’m very proud to have been part of it and I hope we do the whole thing justice.”

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