Peter Capaldi is especially good at making authority uncomfortable. His comic timing is a familiar strength, but we rate him most when, as in Criminal Record, he makes an experienced man difficult to trust.
Fi1m perspective
In Criminal Record (2024), Peter Capaldi makes DCI Daniel Hegarty's seniority an advantage in every encounter. He seems accustomed to having his judgement accepted, which makes it hard to know when experience has become entitlement. Opposite him, Cush Jumbo's DS June Lenker has to work harder for the right to disagree. We felt uneasy watching them together because her challenges and his resistance never seemed to carry equal professional risk. We want to know how much of this man's standing he has earned.
Local Hero (1983) provided an early film breakthrough, but Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It (2005–2012) brought the decisive change in his career. With director and writer Armando Iannucci as a collaborator, Capaldi's precise comic timing made Tucker's profane monologues a particular strength. The character continued into In the Loop (2009). As the Twelfth Doctor in Doctor Who (2013–2017), he brought weight to a world-weary character, though the writing did not always serve him well. These parts explain the familiar association with abrasive authority; Criminal Record gives us more room to question the man exercising it.
The danger with an actor so good at abrasion is that we start waiting for the next verbal assault. Hegarty is rewarding because the uncertainty about him lasts longer than any individual exchange. The writers, Paul Rutman, Thomas Eccleshare, Natasha Narayan and Ameir Brown, make race and gender affect the detectives' dealings, giving Capaldi something specific to work with beyond a senior officer's difficult manner. Jumbo makes Lenker determined without suggesting that determination protects her from strain. Their performances need each other: without a challenger of that weight, Hegarty's expectation of getting his way would be much less interesting to watch.
Some secondary stories weaken Criminal Record, and the leads cannot keep every diversion as tense as their encounters. The series remains worth staying with for a contest in which neither performer lets us settle comfortably on a side. We would rather see Capaldi given another adversary as substantial as Jumbo than another opportunity to be extravagantly abrasive. Start here if Malcolm Tucker's swearing is the first thing that comes to mind.
Biography
Peter Capaldi is a Scottish actor, director and writer. Born in Glasgow in 1958, he trained at the Glasgow School of Art. He is known for his roles as Malcolm Tucker in the BBC series The Thick of It (2005–2012) and as the Twelfth Doctor in Doctor Who (2013–2017).
Capaldi has appeared in numerous films, including Local Hero (1983), Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017) as Reginald Curry, World War Z (2013), Christopher Robin (2018) and The Suicide Squad (2021). He played DCI Daniel Hegarty in the Apple TV+ series Criminal Record (2024). As a director, he won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1993). He is married to producer Elaine Collins.
