Peter Andre lands 'crime drama' role and puts on Greek accent after backlash

Peter Andre has opened up this week about his exciting new TV drama role in what he describes as a 'cozy crime' drama, as he reveals its connection to his Greek Cypriot father. The 90s pop icon is set to star in a brand-new Channel 5 crime drama set in Athens - playing the part of a Greek pathologist.

He explained: "I’m very excited that the cozy crime drama I filmed, Sunshine Murders,is coming to Channel 5 and Paramount+ next month. When I auditioned, it was only for one episode.

"They asked me to do it in my normal accent, but I thought I’d also do it in a Greek accent - how my dad speaks, basically! - as I was playing George, a Greek pathologist in Athens." It comes after Katie Price worries fans with appearance in family photo after explaining weight loss.

Opening up about the audition process, he added in hisOK! column: "I was nervous as I hadn’t heard anything for a while but when they got back to me, not only did they love the Greek accent, they then decided I’d become one of the key characters - now I’m in every episode!

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"It was great working with Stephanie Beecham and Nick Moran; they’re great actors. It was a beautiful experience. Anyone watching that knows my dad will be like, 'Wow, Peter sounds just like him!'"

It comes after the singing star, 52, came under fire in certain quarters for his recent film Jafaican, a British comedy-drama, where he plays Gazza, a small-time crook who must learn about Jamaican culture to pull off a con, undergoing a transformation complete with full dreadlocks to embody the role.

The film, while many fans loved it, faced some backlash due to its portrayal of Jamaican culture and his character, something Peter said he was 'shocked' by - but he responded defiantly to the criticism, and said he is already working on a sequel.

Speaking to This Morning hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary, he confessed: "I think what I found strange is that we took a process of nearly three years from starting this to finishing, and we sat with legends like (Jamaican comedian and actor) Oliver Samuels, doing the read over, doing the script and actually filming it.

"And when we went to Judgement Yard, which is where Sizzla Kalonji, reggae icon, lives, and we were invited in there to do this film. The whole process, if there was any point where any one of them said to us, this is not right, don’t it..."

The Mysterious Girl singer added: "That’s why we were a bit shocked, because we had all the approval from everyone all the way along, and we laughed, and we did take after take, because we were all laughing when we were doing it."

Speaking of his own heritage, Peter added: "I’m Greek. I’ve said this before, when I see films where they play the stereotypical Greek with the hairy chest and the medallion and the big nose, and they do the accent.

"I find that hilarious. I find it offensive if someone’s saying really horrible things about your culture. And so I was a little bit confused, but I understand."

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