Weekend: Whitechapel/Rupert Penry Jones Marathon
[RPJ in Spooks]
RPJ was Captain Wentworth in ITV's latest version of Persuasion - my favorite role of his so far.
Captain Wentworth may well be my favorite Jane Austen hero. Mr. D'Arcy has the best arc, by far and the way that Pride & Prejudice is written, you fall in love with him along with Elizabeth Bennett. Mr. Knightley goes from perfect to more perfect in Emma, and while he is gorgeously played by Jeremy Northam in the movie, he was always a bit too perfect. The character with the arc in that book is Emma, who comes to deserve him. Colonel Brandon is the only one who gives Wentworth a run for his money in my book. Marianne does not deserve him. He loses points for loving someone so undeserving. So we return to Wenworth, I just love him.
RPJ was in Casanova with David Tennant, a painful role opposite an irrestible DT. It was hard to watch his scenes because he was so beautiful and DT was so beguiling. You have to hate RPJ's character, but you can't. It's complicated, you have to watch it.
He was very sexily Adam Carter in Spooks (Mi-5 in the States) . His performance in 39 Steps was absolutely perfect (and I love the Cary Grant version!). He's been in loads of other things - nothing that has given him the recognition he deserves.
The point to all this is that Whitechapel - the new show he's been working on since 2009, is making its way stateside (I love the Internet!) and here's hoping it fills the gap for LOUK and White Collar in the coming year.
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