Frost/Nixon Character Card #5 Matthew Macfadyen as John Birt
by Robert Diamond
- Dec 14, 2008
Macfadyen was tasked to play John Birt, the founding editor of London Weekend Television's (LWT) Weekend World and onetime director general of the BBC. A powerful figure in British television for more than three decades, he would go on to become special advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2001. Birt co-produced the Frost/Nixon interviews with Frost and organized the team that prepared the program's host for battle.