A BELLIGERENT OLD STICK-IN-THE-MUD

With an intense dislike of foreigners, a draconian approach to childcare and an absolutely appalling attitude to women, Dominic West’s character Uncle Matthew (right), Linda’s father (based on Nancy’s real father the Honorable David FreemanMitford, later 2nd Baron Redesdale), is as politically incorrect as he is bad-tempered. ‘He’s outrageous,’ says Dominic. ‘His attitude to life is so not what most people think today. What saves him, and what made him appeal to me, was the fact that he has a warm heart, he’s a bit of a softie. Also, while he’s clearly a belligerent old stick-in-the-mud, there’s an endearing comedy about him which means you can’t help but laugh at him.’

He hunts his children with bloodhounds for fun and when Linda leaves home without his permission he threatens to give her a damn good thrashing. ‘He has a particular hatred of Germans too,’ adds Dominic. ‘He fought in the Great War and takes great pride in an entrenching tool hung on the wall at his home that reminds him of how he once killed ten of them.’