Who is Bertie Carvel? Everything you NEED to know about the new Benedict Cumberbatch!

Date of Birth: 6 September 1977

Born: London, England

Height: 6 foot (1.83 m)

Eyes: Grey/green (swoon)

Training: Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (2000-2003), graduated with Ben Whishaw, Edmund Kingsley and Kate Miles

University: Got himself a BA (Hons) English degree from the University of Sussex in 2000

If you somehow managed to miss the incredible BBC autumn drama Doctor Foster, in which Bertie played cheating husband Simon (and was genuinely worried rabid fans of the show would come after him in real life), fear not: you've also seen him in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – he played creepy magician Strange.

He also had a cameo in 2012 film Les Miserables, where he played the mean dude who stuffed snow down Anne Hathaway's dress shortly before her character Fantine died.

Then he's had appearances in Doctor Who, Sherlock, Babylon and The Crimson Petal and the White, played Nick Clegg in Channel 4's political drama Coalition and showed up in Midsomer Murders (obvs).

Aaaand he'll be coming back to the Beeb for the 2016 second series of Doctor Foster. CANNOT. WAIT.

Is Bertie Carvel married? Short answer: literally no idea. Loads of people think he’s got a wife, but he’s kept his personal life super-secret ever since becoming an actor. He's also kept his sexuality under wraps, prompting questions about whether or not he's gay. Like it still even matters…

In the not too distant past Bertie's been papped with gorgeous co-stars Sally Scott (from Coalition) and Hayley Atwell (off The Man of Mode) but he remains notoriously tight-lipped about his love life.

Bertie's got a black belt in Kung Fu, swims in the men's pond on Hampstead Heath, runs and practises yoga

He's quite a singer, with a bold baritone

He provided the voice for Spy in the Star Wars: The Old Republic video game. Which we obviously play all the time

He speaks French to A-Level standard. Oo la la!

His mum is a psychologist and his dad's a journalist. Bertie says: "It might sound glib but, in a sense, as an actor I'm a journalist and a psychologist recording life and truth." Are you though?

He admits he used to play Dungeons And Dragons with friends as a teenager

He has a "bit of a bromance" with fellow actor Paul Kaye. Bertie says: "We live close to each other, and I feel a sense of being welcomed into his family, and being close to his boys."

Bertie isn't afraid to get political. He told The Stage: "We're so lucky in this country, we don't realise we're born, we don't know how lucky we are. And it's not going to be until the sinister forces that are ideologically opposed to things like the BBC and the NHS have finally taken the last straw away, and the whole thing comes crashing down, that we'll realise what we've lost."

Was when he played a rather rotund Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre. He won over Roald Dahl fans everywhere… oh, and nabbed himself a ton of awards, including an Olivier and a Tony nomination for the Broadway reprisal.

In case you're not a fan, Miss Trunchbull is the headmistress with a hunchback who lived by the motto "children are maggots".

Bertie said: "I don't miss Miss Trunchbull, but she did give me a leg up to the next phase of my career."

Most recently, Bertie played Yank in The Hairy Ape at The Old Vic.

"It's an odd experience reading interviews with yourself. Interesting, though. Of course, you know that the journalist will have edited, rephrased or even rewritten what you actually said, but you can't help feeling that there's a special kind of truth in the way someone else paints you, however subjective they might be."

"I overthink everything. I'm very keen there should be a positive outcome. I like to control outcomes. But you can't. That's what is nice about being an actor, that you work really hard and it pays off. But at the end of the day, for it to be any good, you have to let go. I'd like to be better at this in life."

"People's character is their behaviour - we're all capable of good and evil."

"People seldom cast themselves as villains and prefer to think of themselves as the flawed hero in their own story: that's the way you have to approach it when you’re playing these characters… I want my villains to be recognisably human, to have a soft side; I want there to be light and shade, just as I want my heroes to have flaws" - on playing Simon in Doctor Foster.