Paterson Joseph is good at playing men who expect to be obeyed, especially when their confidence is questionable. We enjoy the relish he brings to authority, though Wonka shows how much even an enthusiastic villain needs the writing to help.
Fi1m perspective
In Wonka (2023), Paterson Joseph’s Arthur Slugworth leads the chocolate cartel with relish. We enjoyed his enthusiasm for being objectionable; it was welcome in a film otherwise so determined to be kind. His speciality is the man who expects to be obeyed, and he can make that expectation funny without discarding the character’s authority. Slugworth is a useful example of what we like about Joseph, even if the film around him is too gentle to make full use of it.
His early film work includes Benbay in Jim Sheridan’s In the Name of the Father (1993) and Keaty in Danny Boyle’s The Beach (2000). We rate Sheridan’s drama highly, though Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite and the difficult father-and-son relationship are the reasons to seek it out. Television gave Joseph more sustained prominence, notably as Alan Johnson in Peep Show (2003–2015). That confident, flawed boss makes clearer why Joseph is so often cast as the man in charge.
His television work also includes a lead role as Connor Mason in the time-travel series Timeless (2016). Joseph’s own description of his acting helps connect the comedy and drama: “The through-line in every character I play is the outward show of control versus the inward panic and scrambling.” That suits Johnson particularly well. His flaws make the certainty funny, and give Joseph more to play than a boss who merely issues instructions.
Paul King gives him a prominent film role in Wonka, but surrounds him with more sweetness than we can comfortably take. Joseph can enjoy leading the cartel, but cannot supply the missing Dahl bite on his own. Hugh Grant’s Oompa Loompa gets the strongest laughs, and King’s handsome film is worth considering for its supporting company rather than its mischief. For Joseph with more room to make authority look foolish, start with Peep Show.
Biography
Paterson Joseph is a British actor. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after earlier studies at Studio '68 of Theatre Arts. He began his professional career with the Royal Shakespeare Company in productions of King Lear and Love's Labour's Lost in 1990.
On television he is known for roles including Alan Johnson in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show (2003–2015), Connor Mason in Timeless (2016–2018) and Wayne Gilchrest in The Leftovers (2014–2015). Film roles include Keaty in The Beach (2000), Giroux in Æon Flux (2005) and Arthur Slugworth in Wonka (2023).
Joseph is also an author. His debut novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho (2022) won the Royal Society of Literature's Christopher Bland Prize. He was appointed Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University in 2022.
