He started out as a pop star in the 1980s, studied theology in the 1990s and became a vicar in the 2000s.
Since then Richard has become television star and latterly a successful author, but there is one job the 63-year-old will not be considering anytime soon – that of politician.
Chatting behind stage at the Milton Rooms in Malton ahead of a sell-out evening, Richard explained that for him politics these days was just ‘too nasty’.
“I certainly couldn’t deal with all that,” he said, digging into a bowl of Twiglets, while sipping a cup of tea. “Politics has got too bitter and nasty.”
He would, however, quite like to join the House of Lords. “For the dressing up,” he laughed.
Richard was in Malton for ‘An Evening with the Reverend Richard Coles’, organised by Kemps bookshop in Market Place.
It was the first time he had been to the town, arriving by train a little earlier.
“I should have come to Malton before, I didn’t realise it was the food capital of Yorkshire,” said Richard, who lives in East Sussex with his partner, Richard Cant, son of the late TV presenter Brian.
“I love Yorkshire – it is just so big and so varied.”
Richard is touring the country to promote his latest novel from the Canon Daniel Clement series – Death on Location. Set in 1990, and sees Daniel and his sidekick Det Sgt Neil Vanhoo – for whom his interest is both professional and personal – investigating the stabbing of a local woman, an extra on the set of a Hollywood movie being shot at the fictional Champton House in the eponymous rural village.
After writing two volumes of his memoirs, Richard’s debut mystery novel Murder Before Evensong was released in June 2022 followed by A Death In The Parish, the following year.
Murder Before Evensong is currently being adapted for a television series, with Richard serving as an executive producer, which is due to be screened this autumn.
“The great thing about writing fiction is that I can make up places and people and create and follow their lives,” he said.
“The novels are set in a shire in the middle of England in the late 1980s and early 1990s which were an intense period of social change and with no mobile phones or CCTV.”
Matthew Lewis, who appeared in the Harry Potter films, will star as Canon Clement in Murder Before Evensong, which is set further north – helpful for the actor’s northern roots.
“Daniel is a bit younger than in the books and has a Leeds accent,” Richard said, adding the title of executive producer for the TV adaptation isn’t as grand as it sounds.
“You get a bacon sandwich from catering,” he said. “I get given a set of headphones, then I can walk around looking important. I don’t know anything about adapting books for television so I’m very happy to leave that to people who know how to do that. It was fun being on set though, although I would imagine it was very different to Richard Osman having Spielberg involved.
Legendary director Spielberg bought the film rights to Osman’s debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club, about four English pensioner sleuths. It is due to be screened on Netflix in August.
Richard said: ” I’ve known Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club king of cosy crime, for some years, we gather at crime festivals and far from being competitive, it’s a very supportive, friendly world.
“When Murder Before Evensong went to number one, Richard sent me a little note saying, ‘Do you remember when years ago, we used to talk about murder mysteries? And here we are.’ That was very generous of him.”
Murder mystery was an obvious genre for Coles, a fan of Sherlock Holmes and has read every Agatha Christie novel.
“Murder at the Vicarage is an obvious favourite but she wrote so many great novels it is difficult to pick just one.”
Perhaps, disappointingly, there are no plans for a reunion of The Communards, the band he formed with Jimmy Somerville in 1985. The pair were together for just over three years and had three UK top 10 hits, including the biggest-selling single of 1986, a version of “Don’t Leave Me This Way”, which was at number one for four weeks.
“We were an unlikely pair from very different backgrounds but formed a bond as two gay runaways to London in the early 1980s,” Richard said.
“Jimmy and I are still in touch, but I am not one for going back and doing things again and Jimmy is very content now living a rural life away from the limelight.”
Richard’s next plans are to spend some time at home and get a kitten and puppy.
“I love where I am in life,” he mused. “I hated being 59 but becoming 60 was great and I love the age I am now and I’m happy with where I am.”
And with that, the tea was drunk and the Twiglets polished off, and time for Richard to turn his charm to the packed Milton Rooms – and charm us all he did.
