---
name: "Aidan McArdle"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/aidan-mcardle"
fi1m_id: "aidan-mcardle"
imdb_id: "nm1264521"
tmdb_id: 47653
wikidata_id: "Q4275251"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "26 November 1970"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 70
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-01T20:46:10.070026+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Aidan McArdle

## Identity

Aidan McArdle

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/aidan-mcardle
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** aidan-mcardle
- **IMDb ID:** nm1264521
- **TMDB ID:** 47653
- **Wikidata ID:** Q4275251
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_McArdle, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4275251, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1264521/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47653

Actor. Born 26 November 1970 in Dublin, Ireland.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 26 November 1970, Dublin, Ireland
- **Active:** 2008–2013
- **Also known as:** Aidan Mcardle
- **Average Fi1m score:** 70, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 69 (2), 2010s 73 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 70 to 68 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 2 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 3, History 2, Comedy 1, Crime 1, Romance 1
- **Screen time:** 4 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $46m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_McArdle, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4275251, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1264521/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47653

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*The Duchess*](https://film.one/film/the-duchess.md) (66)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Aidan McArdle

> Aidan McArdle gives period ensembles a welcome sharpness, with the diction and manners to make authority convincing. We value that precision most when it helps a scene stay witty rather than become solemn.

At the dinners in *The Duchess* (2008), Aidan McArdle’s Richard Brinsley Sheridan helps give Georgiana someone worth talking to. His scenes with Keira Knightley and Simon McBurney’s Charles Fox have the snap that much of Saul Dibb’s film lacks. We perked up in their company because the conversation let Georgiana be witty rather than simply unhappy. McArdle’s contribution is small, but it is a good indication of his value in an ensemble. Here, his timing is useful to the actors around him.

Early screen roles asked him to portray famous men, including Dudley Moore in *Not Only But Always* (2004), alongside Rhys Ifans, and Albert Einstein in *E=mc²* (2005). Television then gave him longer runs as Andy Doonan, opposite Olivia Colman in *Beautiful People* (2008–09), and the prosecutor Silvester in *Garrow’s Law* (2009–11). Comedy and cynical authority became useful outlets for his attention to speech and manner. Lord Loxley in *Mr Selfridge* (2014–15) continued the casting as men who expect to get their way.

Dibb’s film also shows why good supporting acting is not enough. The dinner scenes have energy; the central love affair has almost no heat, and the treatment of Georgiana’s life is too polite. McArdle cannot fix that with a supporting part. Nor should his contribution be inflated: Ralph Fiennes makes the greater impression. What McArdle does, with Knightley and McBurney, is give the social scenes some of the liveliness that the romance needed.

The succession of lawyers and aristocrats suggests a risk in his casting: employing him for the correct manner and leaving him little else to do. His work in comedy is a reason to resist that habit. *Beautiful People* offers a useful counterweight to the prosecutors and titled antagonists, and deserves a place beside them when considering his work. Another disagreeable lord would be no surprise; we would rather see him given more room to be funny.

## Biography

Aidan McArdle is an Irish actor. He was born in Dublin in 1970 and studied at University College Dublin before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, graduating in 1996. His stage work includes productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, such as the title role in Richard III and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

McArdle is known for film roles including Slannen in Ella Enchanted (2004), Richard Brinsley Sheridan in The Duchess (2008), Cronin in Black '47 (2018) and Defence Attorney Clarke in The Professor and the Madman (2019). Television credits include appearances in The Fall (2013), Humans (2015), Genius (2017) and Endeavour (2013). He is a cousin of actor Steve Coogan.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *The Fall* (2013), Fi1m 73, as Healy — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fall-2013.md)
- *Me and Orson Welles* (2008), Fi1m 72, as Martin Gabel — [page](https://film.one/film/me-and-orson-welles.md)
- *The Duchess* (2008), Fi1m 66, as Richard Brinsley Sheridan — [page](https://film.one/film/the-duchess.md)

## Complete filmography (60)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Sherlock & Daughter* (2025), series, as Chief Inspector Whitlock
- *Bergerac* (2025), series, as Pete Benedict
- *Einstein and the Bomb* (2024), as Albert Einstein
- *Blackshore* (2024), series, as Charlie Reid
- *Spy/Master* (2023), series, as Walter Simpson
- *Ridley* (2022), series, as Michael Flannery
- *The Holiday* (2022), series, as Alistair
- *National Theatre Live: Leopoldstadt* (2022), as Hermann
- *Showtrial* (2021), series, as Patrick Norris
- *Deadly Cuts* (2021), as Darren Flynn
- *Red Election* (2021), series, as Zak
- *Dreaming Whilst Black* (2021), series, as Winston — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/dreaming-whilst-black.md)
- *Miss Scarlet* (2020), series, as Joseph Simms
- *The Mallorca Files* (2019), series, as Niall Taylor
- *Born a King* (2019), as Humphrey Bowman
- *The Professor and the Madman* (2019), as Defence Attorney Clarke
- *Sonja: The White Swan* (2018), as Darryl Zanuck
- *Black '47* (2018), as Cronin
- *Seanie & Flo* (2018), as Mr Lynch
- *Genius* (2017), series, as Thomas Harvey
- *Delicious* (2016), series, as Jonathan Jones
- *Maigret's Dead Man* (2016), as 科梅利奥法官
- *Wifey Redux* (2016), as Jonathan Prendergast
- *Clean Break* (2015), series, as Desmond Rane
- *Humans* (2015), series, as Peter Keeley — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/humans.md)
- *The Borderlands* (2014), as Mark
- *Quirke* (2014), series, as Oscar Latimer
- *The Mill* (2013), series, as John Doherty
- *The Fall* (2013), series, as Healy — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fall-2013.md)
- *Endeavour* (2013), series, as Dr. Jasper Nicholson — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/endeavour.md)
- *Father Brown* (2013), series, as Harry Grover
- *Mr Selfridge* (2013), series, as Lord Loxley
- *Metamorphosis* (2012), as The First Lodger
- *Chasing Leprechauns* (2012), as Patrick Doyle
- *Late Bloomers* (2011), as James
- *The Reckoning* (2011), series, as Simon Harris
- *Van Gogh: Painted with Words* (2010), as Paul Gauguin
- *Garrow's Law* (2009), series, as Silvester
- *Law & Order: UK* (2009), series, as Finn Tyler
- *Morris: A Life with Bells On* (2009), as Jeremy - the Producer
- *Beautiful People* (2008), series, as Andy Doonan
- *The Duchess* (2008), as Richard Brinsley Sheridan — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/the-duchess.md)
- *Me and Orson Welles* (2008), as Martin Gabel — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/me-and-orson-welles.md)
- *Secret Diary of a Call Girl* (2007), series, as Mike Hodley
- *Perfect Day: The Millennium* (2006), as Pete
- *Jane Eyre* (2006), series, as John Eshton
- *Perfect Day* (2005), as Pete
- *Riot at the Rite* (2005), as Igor Stravinsky
- *Einstein's Big Idea* (2005), as Einstein
- *All About George* (2005), series, as Dave
- *Footprints in the Snow* (2005), as Seamus
- *Not Only But Always* (2004), as Dudley Moore
- *Agatha Christie's Marple* (2004), series, as Hugh Hornbeam
- *Ella Enchanted* (2004), as Slannen
- *Judas* (2004), as John the Baptist
- *The Afternoon Play* (2003), series, as Dr Max Freeman
- *Agatha Christie's Poirot* (1989), series, as Stephen Norton
- *Casualty* (1986), series, as James O'Hearne
- *NOVA* (1974), series, as Albert Einstein
- *Epitaph*, as Cole Graves

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/aidan-mcardle