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We are confident that should he ever find this column, he will find it both confusing and mortifying.
For my money, the best guest spot gig in TV is as a judge.
In each one, though, the judge holds a special and delightful place.
They get to wear big, voluminous black robes, often with a jaunty collar situation.
Best of all, the judge character is always a glorious combination of extreme reserve and obvious quirkiness.
The judge guest role, in other words, is the human personification of a wickedly raised eyebrow.
There is no one better suited to that position thanbeloved British actor Matt Berry.
First, think about how great hed look in the robe.
Think about the pleated shoulders.
Imagine all the jaunty collar options.
Judge roles, after all, require an immense amount of energy and attention on the face muscles.
Outside of the few fairly proscribed lines a judge has available to them (Sustained!
), most of the character is built with a face and hands.
Berry has a vital asset that makes him perfect for this kind of work: He has fantastic eyebrows.
Hes good at projecting; hes a fantastic enunciator.
This would not be Berrys first time playing a judge, either.
Youd be the judge in the morning and Jack the Ripper in the afternoon, he said.
It wasnt RADA, but you learned how to get the story right and not to fluff your lines.
This time, we could all appreciate how special it would be.
TV has come to a crossroads where it needs tore-examine the role of police shows in our culture.
We need to cast Matt Berry as a judge.
