Matthew Macfadyen

Matthew Macfadyen plays Tom Wambsgans in Succession. Tom's desire to belong makes him very funny, but Macfadyen never lets awkwardness stand in for innocence. He can be anxious about his own position and unpleasantly confident with somebody further down the ladder.

His earlier television leads include Tom Quinn in Spooks and Edmund Reid in Ripper Street. He plays Charles Ingram in Quiz, John Stonehouse in Stonehouse, and Lord Uhtred in the opening of The Last Kingdom.

Film audiences will also know him as Mr Darcy in Pride & Prejudice. Succession makes particularly good use of his comic timing: a sentence can keep changing shape as Tom tries to work out how it is being received.