Death Comes To Pemberley star Matthew Goode is a regular on period dramas, but fans were devastated to miss him in Downton Abbey: A New Era.
The actor was nowhere to be seen in the second Downton flick – prompting fans to wonder what had happened.
Here’s our profile of Death Comes To Pemberley star Matthew Goode, including his career, personal life and why he missed out on Downton Abbey: A New Era.
Who is Matthew Goode?
Matthew Goode is a British actor, best known for shows including Downton Abbey, The Crown and The Good Wife.
He portrays George Wickham in Death Comes To Pemberley on Netflix. The series is based on the novel by P. D. James, which uses Jane Austen‘s Pride and Prejudice characters for a murder-mystery.
Six years after the events of Pride and Prejudice, George and his wife Lydia (Jenna Coleman) are travelling with Captain Denny (Tom Canton). George and Denny have an argument and storm out of the carriage, leaving Lydia alone. A search party later finds George clutching the body of Denny, blaming himself for the murder.
Where is Matthew Goode from? Is he from Ireland?
Matthew was born on April 3, 1978 in Exeter, Devon. At the time of writing, he is 45 years old.
He studied at Exeter School, followed by the University of Birmingham and London’s Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.
Matthew is not from Ireland, however he did use an Irish accent for the film Leap Year.
According to About Entertainment, Matthew said: “I didn’t find [the accent] easy at all. The West of Ireland is – I felt much better about it because the same guy, Gerry Grennell, who works with everyone. He’s absolutely brilliant. He’d done Dancing at Lughnasa and he worked with Meryl Streep and Meryl Streep was crying over it, which made me feel a lot better because there are certain vowel sounds that just seem quite unnatural. But even then, when we started filming, they were like, ‘Take it back. We can’t understand a word you’re saying.’ It became not as strong as I’d like to have done it, but at least people can understand it now so that’s good.”
Who is Matthew Goode in Downton Abbey?
Matthew portrayed Henry Talbot in Downton Abbey. Henry was a racing car driver, who became the second husband of Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery). By 1927, the pair had a daughter together called Caroline.
Henry appeared for the first time in the season 5 Christmas special and played a regular role in season 6. His storylines outside of his relationship with Mary involved setting up an automobile business with Tom Branson (Allen Leech).
Why is Matthew Goode not in Downton Abbey: A New Era?
Sadly, Matthew was nowhere to be seen in the second Downton Abbey film: A New Era.
While onscreen, Mary said her husband was travelling cars racing the world, off-screen the absence related to Matthew’s busy work schedule.
He was filming TV show The Offer while Downton was in production and couldn’t work in the time for a cameo.
Fans will remember Matthew only made a brief appearance in the first Downton Abbey film at the end. This again was due to his busy work schedule. At that time, Matthew was filming A Discovery of Witches.
Who is Matthew Goode in The Crown?
In 2017, Matthew portrayed Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon in The Crown season 2.
Antony Armstrong-Jones was famously the husband of Princess Margaret (Vanessa Kirby in season 2). Their relationship attracted scandal, as Antony was a commoner and photographer. Matthew was replaced by Ben Daniels for season 3.
Matthew received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role.
What else has he been in?
Matthew’s early career hitters came in film. His big break came in the 2004 romcom Chasing Liberty, where he starred alongside Mandy Moore as she played the rebellious daughter of a US President.
A number of big roles followed. In 2005, he played Tom Hewett in Woody Allen thriller Match Point and Hector in the romcom Imagine Me and You. He starred in American crime drama The Lookout in 2007, before taking the lead role of artist Charles Ryder in British film Brideshead Revisited (2008). By 2009, he was in American superhero comedy Watchmen. And in 2010, he starred in period drama A Single Man, alongside Colin Firth, and romcom Leap Year, alongside Amy Adams.
In 2012, Matthew started to fill in his TV resume with some leading roles. He had major roles in Birdsong (2012), The Poison Tree (2012), Dancing on the Edge (2013) and, of course, Death Comes To Pemberley (2013).
From 2014 to 2015, Matthew played major roles in two TV dramas at the same time either side of the pond. The first, as we know, was Henry Talbot in Downton Abbey. At the same time in America, Matthew played Finley “Finn” Polmar in legal drama The Good Wife.
The good fortune in TV – and period drama – continued. He played the aforementioned role in The Crown (2017), followed by vampire Matthew Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches (2018-2022).
In 2022, he also starred in the Paramount+ biographical series The Offer, about the production of the hit film The Godfather (1972).
His other major film roles include The Imitation Game (2014), Stoker (2013), The Hatton Garden Job (2017), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018) and The King’s Man (2021).
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Is Matthew Goode married?
Matthew reportedly married Sophie Dymoke in 2014, after the pair dated for nine years.
They have three children together, Matilda (born in 2009), Teddie Eleanor (born in 2013) and Ralph (born in 2015).
In 2018, Matthew told Red that he was pleased with his work/life balance. He said: “I have three children and a lovely wife and I just don’t like being away from them. Of course, needs must occasionally. But I’m very lucky. I’ve been able to mix work and family.”
How tall is Matthew Goode?
According to reports, Matthew is 187cm tall, or 6 foot 1.5 inches.
That makes him look pretty large next to his Death Comes To Pemberley on-screen wife Jenna Coleman, who is a foot shorter at 5 foot 1.5 inches.
How do you pronounce Matthew Goode?
The ‘e’ on the end of Matthew Goode’s name has sometimes had fans second-guessing themselves, but we can confirm the ‘e’ in Goode is silent and pronounced ‘Good’.
The full series of Death Comes To Pemberley starring Matthew Goode is available to stream on Netflix now.
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