Adrian Scarborough

Pete Sutcliffe bickering with his wife in Gavin & Stacey (2007) is a useful introduction to Adrian Scarborough. With Julia Davis opposite him, the familiar business of the put-upon husband gives his comic timing a proper job. We recommend the series for its warmth and its supporting players, who provide the biggest laughs while the central pair remain less distinctive. Scarborough fits that judgement: here is an actor worth following when the story turns away from the people in the title.

His film work had already found a place in ensembles, including Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2001), in which he plays Barnes. Mike Leigh cast him as Frank in Vera Drake (2004), another film where attention to the surrounding characters matters. Its patient family scenes moved us, because they give time to the ordinary care Imelda Staunton’s Vera takes of others. Leigh is too protective of her goodness, but the performances make the recommendation an easy one. Scarborough is part of that company, and it would be wrong to discuss his usefulness only in terms of comedy.

The limitation is how often he has been asked to appear briefly and leave. Butlers, valets, doctors and officials recur through his period and ensemble work, while The King’s Speech (2010) gives him a small part as a BBC Radio Announcer. Such casting gives an actor a clear function, but not necessarily much to play beyond it. Pete is the more rewarding example to follow across a programme: a recurring character, with a fellow performer to work against, rather than another short appearance.

The Chelsea Detective (2022) gives him DI Arnold, his first regular television lead, and a chance to stay at the centre of a programme. It is a sensible move for an actor whose parts also include flawed or melancholy authority figures. Start with Pete and Julia Davis’s marital quarrels, though; they offer the clearest reason to want more time with him.