Thomas Wriotheseley

Thomas Wriothesley is one of Cromwell's clever young men, an ambitious clerk drawn into the household's orbit of paperwork, patronage and power. Watchful and eager to please, he learns the machinery of statecraft at his master's elbow, quick to anticipate what is wanted and quicker still to make himself useful.

Harry Melling plays him with a nervy, ingratiating alertness — the sense of a man perpetually calculating his own advancement even while performing loyalty. The writing lets his ambition sit just beneath good manners, so every courteous exchange carries a faint charge of self-interest, making him fascinating to watch without ever tipping into cartoon villainy.