
Simon Woods started as an actor, playing key roles in a series of frock flicks and knocking my socks off with his cuteness. He decided to leave acting, got married, and became a writer, with his play Hansard premiering in London in 2019. Nonetheless, coming across him in The Last King reminded me of just how damn cute he is, and I decided he needed some lovin’!
Note: he was in two productions for which I can’t find pictures, TV movie The Queen’s Sister (2005) in which he played Roddy Llewellyn, who dated Princess Margaret of Britain; and Angel (2007), in which he played “Clive Fennelly.”
Cambridge Spies (2003)
A TV miniseries about the Cambridge Five spy ring, who spied for the Soviet Union, from 1934 to the 1951. Woods played Charlie Givens.


The Last King (2003)
As Captain Churchill, who is caught shagging King Charles II’s former mistress Barbara Villiers, in a quick scene.

Foyle’s War (2004)
A British World War II-set detective series. Woods is in the episode called “Enemy Fire.”

Pride & Prejudice (2005)
As possibly the cutest Mr. Bingley in the otherwise mostly terrible Jane Austen adaptation.




Elizabeth I (2005)
Woods plays the small part of “Gifford” in one episode of the Helen Mirren miniseries.

Rome (2007)
As the grown-up version of Roman Emperor Gaius Octavian Caesar in the HBO series.




Cranford (2007)
As dreamy Dr. Harrison in this rural English village story set in the 1830s.



Which of Simon Woods’s period roles do you love best?
Very cute! And he does sleazy so we’ll! Don’t you just long to punch his Cambridge Spies character?
There soooooo many handsome men in Cambridge Spies. Especially peak hotness Toby Stephens.
Oh hell, who am I kidding. He might be at peak hotness now, at 51.
Oh he is attractive. Where do we post nominations for MCM candidates?
According to Wikipedia, he married Christopher Bailey who used to be the head of Burberry.
He was awful in Rome, especially compared to the kid they had playing Octavian before. I get that they had to change to an adult actor because the plots were changing, and they obviously didn’t want to make a kid do the messed up stuff, but he was just completely wooden.
I don’t know if it was him or the direction or the script, but it sounded like he was told to just read every line with the same blank voice and blank expression.
This. And then brought in an equally terrible actress to play the young Livia Augusta and it sucked so hard, when you should have been recoiling terror at what this super power couple was going to do, especially Livia.
A new version of I, Claudius would not be a bad idea. The sets were beautifully detailed, but everything was obviously shot in the studio. Higher production values would be great
But how could they equal that cast? So many before they became famous….
“I don’t know if it was him or the direction or the script.” So why you say he is the problem? Lol. GYST.
I wondered whatever happened to him! I loved him in Cranford and he was wonderful as Bingley. (Oddly enough, Bingley from the ’95 P&P also gave up acting and is now an English teacher). I honestly can’t remember him in anything else, though I’ve seen most of those.
in the screen grabs for Cambridge Spies (2003) – is that a wee Sam Heughan with him?
To me he will always be Octavian from Rome.