STORY SO FAR: Tom Burke

Currently taking the lead in Strike – The Silkworm (9pm, BBC1), Tom Burke, 36, is becoming an increasingly familiar face on our screens. Here’s how it all began…

Dynasty: Born in 1981, it’s no surprise that Tom Liam Benedict Burke should grow up to be an actor, as both his parents are in the profession and his godfather was the late, great Alan Rickman. His father, David Burke, played Dr Watson in the first series of ITV’s The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes,

alongside Jeremy Brett, while his mother, Anna Calder-Marshall, has appeared in everything from Inspector Morse to Doctor Who. Today, the couple focus mainly on theatre work.

Treading the boards: After graduating from RADA in London, Tom followed in his parents’ footsteps and found success in the theatre – ‘It’s a bit of a mad thing to do, go on stage and pretend to be someone else’ – working at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Old Vic and the National Theatre. Small screen, big impact: Tom’s first major television role was in BBC drama State Of

Play (2003), after which work came thick and fast, in Casanova (2005), Dracula (2006), Agatha Christie’s Poirot (2009), the BBC’s 2011 adaptation of Great Expectations and, the following year, series two of The Hour. In early 2014, he really started to make an impression on viewers, playing Athos in the BBC’s The Musketeers and then, in 2016, Dolokhov in War & Peace.

As Strike, Tom could be around for years to come – author J.K. Rowling told him she had ‘at least another ten books’ in her.