Lord Palmerston

Lord Palmerston strides into Victoria's court as Foreign Secretary, a man utterly certain of Britain's right to throw its weight around the world and his own right to enjoy every privilege of high office. Charming, unapologetic, and trailing rumours about his private conduct, he treats diplomacy and seduction with the same brisk confidence.

The show leans into Palmerston's real-life reputation as a roguish operator, and Laurence Fox plays him with a twinkling self-assurance that makes his impropriety entertaining rather than merely scandalous. He's fun precisely because he never doubts himself, needling the young Queen's authority while remaining impossible to entirely dismiss.