About the Character: Siegfried Farnon is a veterinary surgeon and owner of the Skeldale practice. He is cantankerous, hilarious, and infuriating in equal measure. Siegfried is mercurial: as likely to contradict himself in the same sentence as he is to offer sage advice.

Where You’ve Seen Him Before: MASTERPIECE viewers will remember his playing Frank Edwards in four seasons of Mr. Selfridge alongside Jeremy Piven. West has been in other period dramas including Merchant Ivory’s Howard’s End (1992) for which he earned a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nomination.

Fun Fact: West told the Yorkshire Post he has a real passion for ornithology. On breaks from filming Season 2 in the Yorkshire Dales, he went in search of a rare black-browed albatross (to no avail) but did see some “glorious puffins. They always give my heart a lift. Never fails.” West has appeared on BBC Radio’s Tweet of the Day series, where experts chat about birds.

Related Content:  Samuel West and Callum Woodhouse delve into the Farnon brothers’ relationship and backstories in our exclusive Season 2 interview. Learn some fascinating facts about the series, including how the real-life inspiration for Siegfried’s character was even more eccentric than West plays him! Listen to the actor discuss the fraught dynamic of the Farnons in this Season 2 MASTERPIECE Studio podcast episode alongside Callum Woodhouse. And discover his thoughts about his cast mates in our exclusive Season 1 feature.