Matthew Goode: From Downton Abbey to Dept Q, here’s everything you need to know about the actor

Whether you know him from films such as Leap Year, Stoker and The Imitation Game, or are more familiar with his appearances in shows including Downton Abbey, The Crown or A Discovery of Witches, the English actor has made himself known in a variety of supporting roles.

But with the arrival of Dept. Q on Netflix this week, Goode will be leading the cast as the brilliant but frustrating detective Carl Morck.

Ahead of the show’s release on May 29, here is everything you need to know about Matthew Goode.

Who is Matthew Goode?

Matthew Goode was born in Exeter on April 3, 1978. His father was a geologist while his mother was a nurse, who also directed amateur theatre. The youngest of five children, Goode’s half sister is TV presenter Sally Meen.

He grew up in the village of Clyst St. Mary, and studied at the University of Birmingham as well as the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

In a recent interview with the Telegraph, Goode said: “I’m a guy from a little village called Clyst St Mary near Exeter, and I didn’t even know I wanted to be an actor before I went to university.”

What TV shows and movies has Matthew Goode been in?

Goode’s debut screen role came in 2002, when he appeared in the made for television film Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, directed by the late Scottish director Gavin Millar.

Since then Goode has enjoyed a steady career, with roles in romcoms such as Chasing Liberty (2004), Match Point (2005) and Leap Year (2010), as well as appearances in films such as Watchmen (2009), A Single Man (2009), Stoker (2013) and The Imitation Game (2014). More recently, Goode has starred in movies such as The King’s Man (2021), Freud’s Last Session and Abigail (2024).

As for his television roles, he is likely most familiar to Downton Abbey fans for his role as Henry Talbot. He has also appeared in series such as the 2013 adaptation of Death Comes to Pemberley, American legal drama The Good Wife, season 2 of The Crown – in which he starred as Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon – and British fantasy series A Discovery of Witches, in which he played a vampire.

Matthew Goode Dept. Q

As for his role in Dept. Q, Matthew Goode stars as Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck. Based on the books by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, the Netflix series is set in Edinburgh instead of Copenhagen.

Living in the Scottish capital following his divorce from his wife, Goode’s character is described as a brilliant detective but a difficult colleague having recently been appointed as the head of a new cold case unit following an on-duty tragedy.

Accompanied by a cast including Scottish actors such as Chloe Pirrie, Kate Dickie and Shirley Henderson, the show is set to take audiences on a journey around Edinburgh as they follow DCI Morck’s investigations.