His television breakthrough was as Harcourt in the award-winning series Edge of Darkness. He went on to appear in the 2000 television mini-series adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune as the evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen – a role he later reprised for the 2003 sequel Children of Dune. Most recently, television viewers can see him in the memorable, if minor, role of the Forum crier ("Newsreader") in the joint HBO/BBC production Rome, and he has recently filmed a third series of Doc Martin, in which he plays Bert.