Ok, the previous Matthew Macfadyen post was a bit… lacking… owing to a minor disagreement between Kendra and I about his Man=Candy-ness. A number of you readers were quick to point out that I skipped pretty much everything he’s been in, so I decided I owe all you Macfadyenites a do-over.
Wuthering Heights (1998)
Matthew Macfadyen plays Hareton in this adaptation of the classic Emily Brontë novel.
Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (2000)
Matthew Macfadyen plays “Waller,” a character that I’m assuming is based on Dr. Waller, a family friend of the Doyles whom Sir Arthur’s mother was especially close to.
Enigma (2001)
Matthew Macfadyen plays Cave, a fictionalized character involved with the events surrounding efforts to decrypt Nazi transmissions at the height of World War II.
Perfect Strangers (2001)
Ok, he’s not actually in the costume flick portion of this film, which flashes back and forth between decades, but I would be severely remiss if I didn’t include this photo.
The Way We Live Now (2001)
I can’t believe there’s a bustle era flick that we haven’t had an in-depth review of yet. Especially one starring Shirley Henderson!
The Reckoning (2002)
This screengrab has terrible resolution, but the costume has me intrigued. Also, the film co-stars Paul Bettany. Why haven’t I watched this yet???
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
I mean, duh. Of course we have to include this one.
Middletown (2006)
I think this film takes place in the 1960s, but I’m not entirely sure and I kind of don’t want to watch it to find out. Creepy priest shenanigans are a no-go for me.
Frost/Nixon (2008)
This is one of those post-1969 films that I am willing to make an exception for. The attention to detail and storytelling in this drama is fantastic.
Marple: A Pocket Full of Rye (2008)
Matthew Macfadyen plays Inspector Neele in “A Pocket Full of Rye.”
Little Dorrit (2008)
Matthew Macfadyen plays Arthur, who is caught up in the same web of family secrets as Amy Dorrit resulting in their fortunes rising and falling dramatically.
Enid (2009)
I’m actually surprised I haven’t seen this one yet, since it’s got Helena Bonham Carter as Enid Blyton, author of many of the children’s novels I read growing up. Matthew Macfadyen plays Enid’s first husband, Hugh Pollock.
Robin Hood (2010)
Matthew Macfadyen is in this film as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Maybe I’ll actually get around to watching it for Snark Week, one of these years.
Pillars of the Earth (2010)
Let me state, for the record, that I actually greatly enjoyed this miniseries adaptation of Ken Follet’s (massive) novel about building a cathedral in the 12th century, stereotypical medievalisms notwithstanding. Matthew Macfadyen played the gentle Philip, Prior of Kingsbridge.
Any Human Heart (2010)
Matthew Macfadyen plays Logan Mountstuart during his adulthood in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Three Musketeers (2011)
Like I said in the other post, they don’t let not-hot people play Athos.
Anna Karenina (2012)
Ok, so it’s not Bernard Rose’s Anna Karenina (1997), but I actually enjoyed this take on Tolstoy’s doomed heroine. Matthew MacFadyen stars as Oblonsky, Anna’s brother.
Ripper Street (2012-2016)
Another one of these shows I am endlessly promising myself I will get around to watching and yet somehow never do.
The Last Kingdom (2015-)
So many of my friends LOVE Bernard Cornwell’s novels, but I just can’t get excited about watching any of their screen adaptations, The Last Kingdom included. Not even Matthew Macfadyen can make me want to sit through hours of mud and blood. Sorry.
The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music (2015)
Matthew Macfadyen plays Georg von Trapp, in this drama based on the famous family of The Sound of Music fame.
Churchill’s Secret (2016)
The film centers around the efforts of the British government to hide the fact that Winston Churchill suffered a stroke shortly after being elected as Prime Minister for a second time, in 1953.
Howards End (2017)
You can read all that we had to say about the remake of Howard’s End. I’ll just leave it at that.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
Honestly, this looks like a pretty film with some good mix of historical accuracy and fantasy. Also, it marks the third time Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen have teamed up in a film.
The Current War (2020)
Matthew Macfadyen plays investment banker J.P. Morgan, in this film depicting the competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse in their “war of the currents.”
Operation Mincemeat (2021)
Dueling Darcys! Teaming up to defeat Nazis! The film also stars Jason Isaacs, which is almost enough of an incentive to make me want to watch yet another WWII film.
Stonehouse (2022)
There’s not a lot of information about this film yet, but it’s based on the true events surrounding disgraced British politician John Stonehouse. Looks to be set in the years running up to Stonehouse’s attempt to fake his own death in 1974.
There you go! I hope you enjoyed this proper tour of Matthew Macfadyen’s frock flick career to date! Share your favorite flick with us in the comments!
The nutcracker has some lovely costumes.
The Way We Live now…he made a wonderful feckless poor young man of title and dissipation trying to woo the heiress (Shirley). The whole series is a delight with “Poiret” as the scheming millionaire and Paloma Baeza and Cillian Murphy as his sister and her new suitor. Love this one.
thx wasnt aware of his many films so will check these out; the one I like best with him so far was Little Dorritt, he was the perfect hero in that, so I just cant imagine him as Darcy etc. I suppose if it got people to check out the Firth version, then fine. A movie may get the young’uns to explore further. Same w Persuasion, hopefully brings them to watch the BEST version, Ciaran Hinds/Amanda Root. Anyway, I can understamd he is not the traditional MC, a bit more reserved etc. but I will always love his Arthur! that’s in my top three series ever! PnP 95, Persuasion Ciaran, then Little Dorritt…just love the father dtr storyline etc. #Family
I hadn’t heard of the Reckoning so I don’t know the time period, though he looks 15th century. Anyway, does anyone else see the extraordinary resemblance he has to Richard lll?!
He would make an excellent Richard III!
“The Reckoning,” is interesting. There’s some definite whatthefrockery with the some of the medieval costumes by Yvonne Blake, but the cast is terrific (Paul Bettany, Willem Dafoe, Tom Hardy, Brian Cox, Geena McKee, and of course Mr. McFadyen) and the murder mystery compelling.
Agreed. I really liked that movie
Paul Bethany is … not a good person.
I have yet to find a Matthew MacFadyen film I don’t at least like him in, even when the rest of the film is “eh.” Probably my favorite is Little Dorrit, but Pillars of the Earth and The Way We Live Now are high up there. You’ve dug up a few I haven’t seen so they’re now on my list. And the trailer for Operation Mincemeat was good, and hey, Dueling Darcys!
You left out The Pinkertons, where he plays the founder of the detective agency. I was always envious of his fabulous voice. Although he usually plays it straight, he can occasionally dish out the comedy.
Love this guy. So interesting and watchable in everything. And yes… to echo other comments: THE WAY WE LIVE NOW is excellent.
For those out there who haven’t watched The Last Kingdom, he only appears in the first episode, so not worth watching for him (but I personally liked the show, it was fun).
I’m curious about The Reckoning (the comments here let me suppose that it’s my kind of movie). And I want to watch The Way We Live Now but never take the time for, I need to change that.
I must say I actually quite enjoyed Robin Hood; all those great actors, plus the first time I saw Oscar Isaac in anything (bonus). Too bad it didn’t do particularly well at the box office.
There are a bunch of intriguing shows mentioned in this that I’ve not heard of. I went looking for Enid and found a description that makes her sound like a monster. EEP. Not much of an MM fan myself, but body of work is impressive!
I’ve seen Ripper Street. The pilot was entertaining, the rest of the show was a letdown afterwards.
They Way We Live Now is my favourite
Operation Mincemeat, awesome book, brilliant adaptation, insane & frankly bonkers concept… (& the only reason I have time for Ian Fleming, the person.)
(He plays a stuffy English know-it-all & is very good at it.)
The Reckoning isn’t bad – fabulous cast – but I felt that it would have been a little hard to follow some of the conclusions that are reached in the investigation of the mystery, and who particular characters are (MM in particular, now that I think of it) if I hadn’t read the (pretty excellent) book first! The book is called Morality Play https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality_Play_(novel)