Using what I think of as actor magic, Wenham, under the skilled direction of Emma Freeman, subtly sows the seeds of doubt about Joe, lending weight to Birdie’s concerns. He might look like a perfect match, but something seems a bit off. Is he a bit too keen? A little oily? Slightly too enamoured of the perks her job as a food writer might bring?

Loading

Episode six reveals the extent of his sly, passive-aggressive manipulations, the cold, hard look in his eyes, and just how sinister a smile can be.

By then, Birdie’s suffered a string of disappointments, all fuel for her lurking anxieties. And the full, sordid nature of Joe’s world is evoked in a style so beautifully crafted by director Jennifer Leacey that an otherwise ordinary shot of his hand hitting a shower tap becomes as startling as a gunshot.

That said, Wenham’s character is also powerfully disarming because the actor has so convincingly played romantic leads and heroes in the past. As Joe is exposed in all his cruelty, it’s hard to believe that this is the same man who gave us the fisherman Diver Dan in the early seasons of SeaChange, a character so charismatic that he made neckerchiefs look sexy.

But, he’s also the actor who gave us the menacing Brett Sprague in The Boys and the wonderfully grotty small-time drug dealer, Johnny “Spit” Spitieri in Gettin’ Square. Over a decades-long career, it’s an understatement to say that Wenham has demonstrated impressive range.

Perhaps for an actor in this country, with its comparatively small industry and market, flexibility like that is a key to longevity in a fiercely competitive business. Although Wenham’s often worked overseas (Lord of the Rings, Van Helsing), a lot of his screen work has been done here. And anywhere in the world, being typecast could be frustratingly limiting for an actor with broader goals.

Some don’t want to be confined to the heartthrob roles that might’ve defined the early stages part of their careers: think of Brad Pitt in Thelma & Louise, for example. Just as actresses might not want to be limited to playing objects of desire, their male colleagues might not want that either.

He’s not alone in resisting being boxed in. This year we’ve also seen a couple of prominent actors actively working to challenge any fixed impressions that we might have of them. Having attained global renown and set pulses racing as the “hot priest” in Fleabag, Andrew Scott took on the latest incarnation of Tom Ripley, Patricia Highsmith’s calculating killer.

In Ripley (Netflix), Steven Zaillian’s masterful, eight-part adaptation of Highsmith’s first Ripley novel, he charts the character’s progress from struggling New York scam artist, another faker, to American expat living la dolce vita in Rome. His smooth-as-glass surface conceals a murderous greed and a craving for the finer things, and the will to stop at nothing to get them.

Possibly personifying a lesser degree of danger, although equally effective in his evocation of the dark side, is Jake Gyllenhaal in the recently arrived legal thriller, Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+).

Gyllenhaal’s had his flirtation with the heartthrob stuff (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) and disaster movie heroes (The Day After Tomorrow), but his choices have also demonstrated a desire to get into grittier, more challenging material (Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead, Nightcrawler).

The eight-part Presumed Innocent, adapted by the prolific David E. Kelley from Scott Turow’s 1987 bestseller, and on which Gyllenhaal is also an executive producer, offers a less sympathetic rendition of Rusty Sabich than the one in Turow’s book or the 1990 film directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Harrison Ford.

All of them need to create doubts about the arrogant, embattled district attorney. But Gyllenhaal embraces the nasty aspects of the character, the eruptions of violence, the angry manoeuvres designed for self-protection. He makes you believe that his character could be guilty of murder.

And, as Wenham’s performance in Fake also shows, that ugly edge contributes to a meatier, more compelling drama.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.