Samuel West in Slow Horses
Samuel West plays Peter Judd, the politician whose confidence can make an intelligence briefing sound like a conversation arranged for his convenience. His appearances span Series 1, 2, 3, 5 and the released opening of Series 6. Judd belongs to the programme’s political world, where the person asking for information may also be calculating how to use the answer.
West gives these encounters an easy surface. Opposite Kristin Scott Thomas’s Diana Taverner, that ease becomes an instrument of pressure: Judd expects to be heard, and speaks as though the room already recognises his importance. The performance suits a series in which professional competence and institutional power frequently belong to different people. He can interrupt the balance of a scene without raising his voice.
What West says about Judd
In a 2024 Times interview, West explained that he softened the novel character’s resemblance to Boris Johnson because Johnson was prime minister when the first series was filmed. He instead combined Johnson and David Cameron. The choice gave the screen politician a wider reference point and kept the performance from becoming a direct impersonation. West also described the job as annoying Kristin Scott Thomas, a concise account of Judd’s function in her scenes.
Standout scenes: Series 1–6 spoilers
In Bad Tradecraft, Hobden’s appeal puts Judd’s social confidence under pressure. Follies then brings him into Taverner’s handling of the crisis. Series 3’s Negotiating With Tigers connects political authority with the private-security operation. His later appearances in Incommunicado and the Series 6 opener renew the problem of an influential outsider who expects the Service to accommodate him.
Career highlights
West’s film work offers an instructive contrast with Judd. In James Ivory’s Howards End (1992), he is Leonard Bast, the clerk whose literary ambitions cannot protect him from the decisions of wealthier people. The BFI’s archive review singles out his sensitive performance. Watching Leonard after Judd reverses the direction of power: the actor who now enters rooms with assurance once played the person whose footing in them was precarious.
His agency also records Anthony Blunt in Cambridge Spies and The Crown, Sir Walter Pole in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015), and Anthony Eden in Darkest Hour (2017). Those credits make intelligence, government and uncomfortable authority recurring territory in his screen career. As Siegfried Farnon in the modern All Creatures Great and Small, he offers a different combination of command, irritation and care.
On stage, West played Jeffrey Skilling in Lucy Prebble’s Enron, directed by Rupert Goold. His agency confirms a 2010 Olivier nomination for Best Actor and a 2009 Evening Standard nomination for that performance. He has also played the title roles in Hamlet and Richard II for the RSC. Beyond acting, he was artistic director of Sheffield Theatres from August 2005 to August 2007.
Where to watch next
Choose Howards End for Leonard’s vulnerability, All Creatures Great and Small for Siegfried’s comic authority, or The Crown for another encounter with the intelligence establishment. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell places Sir Walter Pole in a world where government and the supernatural become entangled. Together these four performances give a broader view than Judd’s calculated charm alone.
Questions and answers
Which Slow Horses character does Samuel West play?
West is Peter Judd, the recurring politician who deals with the Park’s senior officers.
Is Samuel West in All Creatures Great and Small?
He plays Siegfried Farnon in the modern television adaptation.
Was West nominated for an Olivier Award?
His portrayal of Jeffrey Skilling in Enron earned a Best Actor nomination in 2010.