Mark Addy was a heavy-drinking womaniser in Game of Thrones. In The Syndicate he is a womaniser and a drunk.
''There does seem to be a pattern emerging, to be fair,'' Addy, who plays Alan Walters in the BBC UKTV drama series says with a laugh.
''I don't know why they cast me as the drinkers,'' he adds.
''Perhaps it's because I wear my beer. That's just the shape I am.''
The Syndicate is a six-part series detailing what happens to five friends when they win 72 million on a lottery.
It is a concept that could have played out like a dreadful dramatisation of an awful reality television show.
It is instead an engaging piece of television - the right combination of an extraordinary scenario, in which many people dream of finding themselves, and the ordinary, messy, believable lives of the main characters.
This is season two of The Syndicate.
But it focuses on a fresh group of five winners, so no prior knowledge is needed.
Each episode focuses on a different character as they adjust to their sudden wealth.
Addy's character Alan is in each episode, but his story is fully explored in episode five.
From episode one, however, it is clear he is an alcoholic who might be falling off the wagon.
''He makes some very poor decisions,'' Addy says.
''And that leads to poorer and poorer decision-making, when the solution was right under his nose in the first place.''
One of the challenges playing the role - and the other parallel with playing King Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones - was the effort required to understand what motivated his character.
In Game of Thrones Addy studied the fantasy novels on which the series was based in order to get the character's back-story.
In The Syndicate he used clues in the script by Kay Mellor (Coronation Street, Strictly Confidential) to get inside Alan's head.
''He's been focusing on the wrong things ... material things, when what he needs is love.
''And in the end he potentially finds it. I can't really say more than that.''
Addy has a string of other film and television credits in the United Kingdom and the United States to his name.
They include a lead role as Dave Horsefall in The Full Monty, Detective Constable Gary Boyle in The Thin Blue Line, Bill Miller in American sitcom Still Standing and Friar Tuck in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood.
He has never been to New Zealand but says it is on his wish list.
''I would love to see the All Blacks play at home and beat Australia. That would be my ideal trip.''
Addy had ''a fantastic time'' during the shooting of the series, in part because of all the time spent with the other cast members.
Because of the way the story was told, scenes were shot three times, each from the perspective of a different character.
''So we spent a lot of time together, and we got on well. It felt like a team, which isn't always the case. It was a luxury to work with those guys.''
In addition to Addy, lead actors in The Syndicate are Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abbey, Benidorm), Alison Steadman (The Singing Detective, Pride and Prejudice), Natalie Gavin (Prisoners' Wives) and Jimi Mistry (Blood Diamond, It's a Wonderful Afterlife).
Compared with film, television allows a lot more time for story lines and characters to be developed and explored, Addy says.
He recommends the best way to enjoy The Syndicate is to ''allow yourself to get involved and see where the story takes you''.
''Primarily it's entertainment. But it's written in such a way you can get heavily involved ... You find out stuff towards the end which you had no idea was there at the beginning.''
• The Syndicate premieres on Monday, at 8.30pm on UKTV.
