‘A revelation’: Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen has been a consummate shapeshifter

Matthew Macfadyen in Succession, where he makes an obsequious and bullying character likeable Photograph: HBO

As Succession fans still reel from the relentless assault of quickfire one-liners, plot twists, betrayals and pathos that was its final episode, one thing is indisputable: this was Matthew Macfadyen at his stellar best.

So compulsive was he as the venal, unctuous, morally moribund Tom Wambsgans in the hit HBO series, it is hard to reconcile with his past role as period drama leading man Mr Darcy in Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice.