Bertie Carvel on Playing 'Dalgliesh' and Why Murder Mysteries are So Enduringly Popular
Acorn TV's new period-set mystery series Dalgliesh may feel fairly familiar to Anglophile audiences, given that it's based on a series of novels by P.D. James that originally began publishing in 1962 and continued for over four decades afterward. These books have spawned multiple small screen versions over the years that followed, thanks to their smart, layered mysteries and a lead character who exists as something of a paradox
In this latest version, actor Bertie Carvel plays the titular inspector, a man who is intensely private but equally sure of himself, both controlling and deeply empathetic. But, like many other famous British crime solvers, he is not exactly known for wearing his heart on his sleeve.
"Well, he's described on page one of the script as often inscrutable," Carvel says during a wide-ranging conversation with Telly Visions. "Which is a wonderful invitation really, isn't it - because it's so film-like. But when I think about the protagonists in film that I most enjoy watching, there’s a sense that you're pulled into them and, [for me,] having played a lot of larger than life characters - which I've very much enjoyed - I loved the idea of playing somebody for whom it might be said that still waters run deep."
