Martin Freeman

Martin Freeman plays insurance salesman Lester Nygaard in Fargo. His gift for embarrassment is central to the performance: a hesitation or a small defensive smile can tell us how a conversation is going before Lester finds the words.

Freeman became familiar to television audiences as Tim Canterbury in The Office UK. Tim's glances and understated reactions were an essential part of that show's comedy. As Dr John Watson in Sherlock, Freeman supplied a practical, sometimes exasperated presence beside Benedict Cumberbatch's detective. Fargo makes rather different use of his ability to look like an ordinary man dealing with an unreasonable situation.

His film roles include Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy. On television he also plays police officer Chris Carson in The Responder and Paul Worsley in Breeders. The work moves between comedy and drama, but the attention to how people defend themselves in conversation remains a useful thread through it.