7.5
1,074 votes
The Serpent

The Serpent

BBC One 2021

The remarkable story of how murderer Charles Sobhraj was captured. As the chief suspect in unsolved murders of young Western travellers across India, Thailand and Nepal’s ‘Hippie Trail’ in 1975 and 1976, Sobhraj had repeatedly slipped from the grasp of authorities worldwide to become Interpol's most wanted man, with arrest warrants on three different continents.
Advertisement

The Top 10 Actors and Characters of The Serpent (Ranked Cast in 2024)

Jenna Coleman

#1 - Jenna Coleman (Jasmine Thomas)

Jenna-Louise Coleman, since 2013 credited as Jenna Coleman, is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Jasmine Thomas in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale (2005–2009), Clara Oswald in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2012–2015, 2017), Queen Victoria in the ITV period drama Victoria (2016–2019), Joanna Lindsay in the crime miniseries The Cry (2018), and Marie-Andrée Leclerc in the crime miniseries The Serpent (2021). She landed the part of Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale in 2005 and, for it, she was nominated for the "Best Newcomer" award at British Soap Awards in 2007, and at the National Television Awards in 2006, she was nominated for the "Most Popular Newcomer" award. She received a nomination for the "Best Actress" award from the TV Choice Awards. In 2011, she made her feature film debut in Captain America: The First Avenger. She played Susan Brown in a BBC Four television adaptation of the John Braine novel Room at the Top in 2012. Also in 2012, she landed the part of Annie Desmond in a mini-series Titanic. She provided the voice for the character Melia in the English dub of the 2011 video game Xenoblade Chronicles. In 2012, she was cast as Rosie in Dancing on the Edge. She starred as Lydia Wickham in the adaptation of Death Comes to Pemberley (2013). She made a surprise appearance on Doctor Who in the first episode of the seventh series as Oswin Oswald, a guest character, but she debuted as a series regular in the Christmas special episode "The Snowmen" as Clara Oswin Oswald. She plays eleventh's and twelve's Doctor companion until 2015. In 2016, she starred in ITV's drama Victoria.

Jenna Coleman plays as Jasmine Thomas in The Serpent.
Jenna Coleman is the top #1 member of the cast and appears in 3568 episodes.

Billy Howle

#2 - Billy Howle (Elliot Fairbourne)

Billy Howle was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, to a schoolteacher mother and a father who teaches at Kent University, the second of four sons. His older brother, Sam, is a graphic designer. Despite his parents' academic backgrounds, Billy has said that he was not interested in further education, and worked instead at the local Stephen Joseph theater, in community-based projects involving dance and acting. After a year at drama school, he enrolled at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating in 2013. Having appeared at Bristol in 'The Little Mermaid,' his next stage appearance was in New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, opposite Lesley Manville in Richard Eyre's production of Henrik Ibsen's 'Ghosts' and a year later was reunited with Bristol Old Vic, the director, and Ms. Manville in a scorching production of 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' alongside Jeremy Irons - another Bristol Old Vic alumnus - Hadley Fraser, and Jessica Regan, more than holding his own with his older, more experienced co-stars. After a couple of small roles in television drama, Billy's first substantial lead came in the youth-oriented murder mystery Glue (2014) in 2014, opening the first scene in memorable style as he rolled nude down stacks of grain in a barn. In 2016, he was in another murder mystery, The Witness for the Prosecution (2016), as the defendant accused of killing his wealthy benefactress, by which time he had filmed his first forays into cinema: On Chesil Beach (2017) and Anton Chekhov's The Seagull (2018), both with Saoirse Ronan, and The Sense of an Ending (2017).

Billy Howle plays as Elliot Fairbourne in The Serpent.
Billy Howle is the top #2 member of the cast and appears in 6 episodes.

Tahar Rahim

#3 - Tahar Rahim (Charles Sobhraj)

Tahar Rahim (born 5 July 1981) is a French actor of Algerian origin. Born in Belfort, France, his family is originally from the region of Oran, Algeria. He is most notably known for his starring role as Malik El Djebena in the 2009 award-winning French movie A Prophet by Jacques Audiard. Rahim has demonstrated multilingual skills and an ear for accents, having played in Corsican and Arabic in addition to French in A Prophet, and in ancient Gaelic for his role as the seal prince in Kevin Macdonald's The Eagle. He says that he found refuge from the boredom of Belfort in cinema. Watching up to five movies a week during his youth, this habit that gave birth and fed his passion for the art. After earning a Baccalauréat at the Lycée Condorcet of Belfort, he enrolled first in Sports and then Computer Science programs. After two subsequent years of an unmotivated boredom with the subjects in Strasbourg and Marseille, Rahim decided to pursue his passion and began to study film at the Paul Valéry University of Montpellier. His life as a film student was chronicled in a documentary by Cyril Mennegun titled "Tahar, student", aired on French TV channel France 5 in 2006. Following this, Rahim moved to Paris in 2005 and studied drama at the Laboratoire de l'Acteur under Hélène Zidi-Chéruy while working in a factory during the week, and in a night club on weekends to make ends meet. In mid 2006, after signing with an agent, Rahim won a part in the hit Canal+ television series La Commune written by Abdel Raouf Dafri. Dafri penned the first draft of the script to A Prophet. Rahim then met Audiard when the two coincidentally shared a cab while the two were leaving a set. Tahar introduced himself saying that "I knew it was Audiard and I said I was a fan but I think I was a bit silly" and was afterward very surprised that Audiard remembered him enough to contact him about A Prophet. After a two-line appearance in 2008 horror movie Inside starring Béatrice Dalle, he went through a gruelling three months of auditioning. After eight callbacks, he landed his breakthrough role. Rahim is now set to star in controversial Chinese director Lou Ye's movie Bitch. The director, twice banned from making movies by the Chinese government, likely met Tahar at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival where they were each presenting Spring Fever and A Prophet respectively. Bitch is the adaptation of the banned biography of Jie Liu Falin. Another project in the works is Des hommes libres (Free men), the biopic on Si Kaddour Benghabrit, founder of the Great Mosque of Paris, to be directed by Ismaël Ferroukhi of Le Grand Voyage fame.

Tahar Rahim plays as Charles Sobhraj in The Serpent.
Tahar Rahim is the top #3 member of the cast and appears in 6 episodes.

Amesh Edireweera

#4 - Amesh Edireweera (Ajay)

A 2019 drama graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Amesh Edireweera plays as Ajay in The Serpent.
Amesh Edireweera is the top #4 member of the cast and appears in 6 episodes.

#5 - Armand Rosbak (Willem Bloem)

Armand Rosbak plays as Willem Bloem in The Serpent.
Armand Rosbak is the top #5 member of the cast and appears in 6 episodes.

Mathilde Warnier

#6 - Mathilde Warnier (Nadine Gires)

Mathilde Warnier plays as Nadine Gires in The Serpent.
Mathilde Warnier is the top #6 member of the cast and appears in 6 episodes.

Grégoire Isvarine

#7 - Grégoire Isvarine (Rémi Gires)

Grégoire Isvarine plays as Rémi Gires in The Serpent.
Grégoire Isvarine is the top #7 member of the cast and appears in 6 episodes.

Fabien Frankel

#8 - Fabien Frankel (Dominique Renellau)

Fabien Frankel plays as Dominique Renellau in The Serpent.
Fabien Frankel is the top #8 member of the cast and appears in 6 episodes.

Ellie Bamber

#9 - Ellie Bamber (Dove)

Born Eleanor Elizabeth Bamber in the South of England, UK, Bamber has a younger brother, Lucas. She acted on stage from an early age - becoming the youngest ever member of The London Player's Theatre, before playing Young Jenny in Sir Trevor Nunn's "Aspects of Love" at The Menier Chocolate Factory, London. She then went into TV and film and in quick succession she was offered Lydia Bennett, in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) alongside Lily James and Matt Smith. Then Dinah Lord in High Society, directed by Maria Friedman which was the last production under Kevin Spacey's tenure as Artistic Director, at the Old Vic, London where she was nominated for an Evening Standard Best Newcomer Award. Then India Hastings in Tom Ford's long awaited second feature film, playing Jake Gyllenhaal's and Isla Fisher's daughter, in the dramatic thriller Nocturnal Animals (2016). In 2015 she was announced as one of BFI and Screen Daily's Screen Stars of Tomorrow. Following feature films include Extra Curricular Activities starring alongside Timothy Simons and Colin Ford, High Resolution (winning Best Actress at The Orlando Film Festival). Then going back to theatre playing Helena in Ibsen's, Lady from the Sea at the Donmar, London (winning 3rd prize at The Ian Charlson Awards for her performance). Further films include The Nutcracker and the Four Realms with Keira Knightly and Morgan Freeman and soon to be released The Seven Sorrows of Mary and The Show. She can be seen on BBC 1's television series of Les Miserable, as Cosette alongside Dominic West and Olivia Coleman and is filming The Trial of Christine Keeler for BBC 1 as Mandy Rice-Davies with Sophie Cookson and James Norton.

Ellie Bamber plays as Dove in The Serpent.
Ellie Bamber is the top #9 member of the cast and appears in 3 episodes.

Tim McInnerny

#10 - Tim McInnerny (Daniel Chard)

Tim McInnerny ( born 18 September 1956) is an English actor. He is known for his role as Percy in Blackadder and Blackadder II, and as Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Forth; he did not reprise his role as Percy in Blackadder the Third due to a fear of being typecast. A guest appearance in series three, however, makes him the only person other than Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson to appear in all four series of Blackadder and also appearing in the one-off special Blackadder: Back & Forth. He has also appeared in Spooks and the Doctor Who story "Planet of the Ood". Description above from the Wikipedia article Tim McInnerny, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Tim McInnerny plays as Daniel Chard in The Serpent.
Tim McInnerny is the top #10 member of the cast and appears in 2 episodes.

Last updated: jan 12, 2023

Search for TV shows...

About Series with Sophie

Welcome to our community!

We are a community of women who are passionate about our favorite series and want to share that passion with others.

Our mission is to create a space where women can discover new content, connect with like-minded individuals, and engage in meaningful discussions about the series we love.

We believe that everyone should have access to reliable and trustworthy information about their favorite shows, and we strive to be the premier destination for women seeking that information. Whether you're looking for recaps, fan theories, or just want to connect with other fans, we've got you covered.

So join us and be a part of our growing community of series enthusiasts!