MATTHEW Macfadyen admits he had reservations about accepting the lead role in Ripper Street,
Richard Warlow’s gory new series for BBC1 about an 1889 police squad patrolling the streets of London’s East End in the wake of Jack the Ripper’s bloody murders.
The actor, who made his name playing Tom Quinn in Spooks, says, “Before starting on Ripper Street, I remember feeling scared. I had the same feeling before Spooks. There is something peculiar about a series. It’s somehow more frightening than a one-off. You feel more responsibility and you’re more worried that you will annoy people. It’s open-ended, so you think, ‘It’s going to go on and on irritating people.’”
Yet there seems little likelihood of Macfadyen falling out of favour with the viewing public. Good looks and his memorably brooding performance as Mr Darcy opposite Keira Knightley in Joe Wright’s 2005 movie version of Pride and Prejudice mean the 38-year-old commands an army of followers; one website devoted to him is called darcylicious.com
Sitting opposite me in his agent’s office in central London, he is virtually the dictionary definition of “tall, dark and handsome.”
Dressed in a pair of black corduroy trousers and a grey rollneck jumper, he has a winning, slow burning sense of humour.
“Acting is such a lovely job. You have to take it seriously, but not yourself,” he says.
“The mistake lies in doing the reverse. I guard against that. If I started throwing scripts out of my Winnebago and shouting, ‘My trailer’s not big enough, I’m walking,’ I’d feel absolutely ridiculous.”
READ MORE: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/tv-and-radio/matthew-macfadyen-watching-the-detective-1-2712200
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