Vincent Franklin

Vincent Franklin can deliver a mouthful of managerial jargon as though it deserves a considered reply. As Stewart Pearson in The Thick of It (2007–2012), he makes the officiousness convincing enough for the comedy to work. The language may be ridiculous, but he gives it a recognisable speaker who appears to take it seriously. We can believe somebody would employ this man, which makes the nonsense more troubling and considerably funnier.

That television image does not account for all his work. His appearances for Mike Leigh include Topsy-Turvy (1999) and Vera Drake (2004), where his care with character detail serves the ensemble. Nick Jowett in Twenty Twelve (2011–2012) belongs to the later run of workplace comedy. Then Russell T Davies's Cucumber (2015) gave him the lead as Henry Best, a more inward-looking part. It is a useful corrective to the assumption that Franklin needs an official title and a quantity of jargon to be interesting.

The move into higher-profile drama includes Andy Shepherd in Happy Valley (2014–2023) and Mike Travis in Bodyguard (2018). Bodyguard is worth the evening, though it is not the place to go looking for Franklin at the centre of things. Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes are the main reason to stay. We were tense because Jed Mercurio keeps the suspense tight, and the two leads made that discomfort worthwhile. The accumulating complications demand more indulgence than they deserve; a cast containing good character actors cannot do all the work for the writing.

We value Franklin for making heightened dialogue sound usable, with enough conviction that the jokes need little assistance. The reservation concerns the casting habit rather than a failure of his: there are only so many variations on the officious man that we need. His ensemble work with Leigh and the leading part Davies gave him offer good reasons to look beyond those familiar roles. Start with The Thick of It for the precise comic delivery; try Cucumber before deciding that is all he does.