The formidable Trevor Eve reprises his role as ancient vampire Gerbert d'Aurillac in the new season of A Discovery of Witches, which begins Saturday (January 8) on Sundance Now, Shudder, and AMC+. This accomplished British actor has won two Olivier awards for his stage work, but we're taking a minute to celebrate some of his most notable TV work. Here are seven of his most memorable roles. 
1. Shoestring (1979-1980)
Eve's TV breakthrough came in this fondly remembered BBC detective series. He plays Eddie Shoestring, a somewhat disheveled radio presenter who investigates unsolved cases free of charge. After Eve turned down a third season so he could concentrate on stage work, the show's producers reworked the Shoestring formula into another hit detective series, Bergerac.
2. Jamaica Inn (1983)
Eve stars opposite Jane Seymour and Patrick McGoohan in this three-part ITV adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's riveting gothic novel. It's a story of piracy, smuggling, love affairs, and murder set against the rugged backdrop of 19th century Cornwall, so fans of Poldark might like to seek it out.

3. The Politician's Wife (1995)
Eve stars in this BAFTA-winning miniseries as the morally dubious politician Duncan Matlock. When his affair with an escort-turned-parliamentary researcher (Minnie Driver) becomes headline news, his wife Flora (Juliet Stevenson) begins to plot her revenge. It's gripping, twisty, and sophisticated stuff.

(Photo: Getty Images)
4. Waking the Dead (2000-2011)
Eve appeared in all 92 episodes of this BBC police procedural (shown in the U.S. on BBC America) about a London-based cold case unit. He plays the unit's head officer, Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd, a man haunted by the disappearance of his own son and who's not afraid to get tough with subjects. It's a performance that shows off Eve's flair of playing stern-but-likable.

5. Bouquet of Barbed Wire (2010)
ITV's second adaptation of Andrea Newman's famous novel wasn't as scandalous as the first – which was made in the more prudish '70s – but it's still pretty bracing viewing. Eve plays Peter Manson, a successful publisher who has an affair with his intern while getting a little too involved in the personal life of his daughter Prue (Imogen Poots). This family may look stiff and starchy, but they're anything but.
6. Death Comes to Pemberley (2013)
Adapted from a P.D. James novel, this BBC miniseries takes the characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and drops them into the middle of a tense murder mystery. Eve is on suitably austere form as the local judge, Sir Selwyn Hardcastle, joining a terrific cast that includes his A Discovery of Witches costar Matthew Goode, Matthew Rhys, Anna Maxwell Martin, Jenna Coleman, and James Norton.

7. Unforgotten (2015)
Eve shows off his sinister side in season one of ITV and PBS's hugely popular series about cold case murder investigations. He plays Sir Phillip Cross, a successful self-made businessman who has the British government on speed dial, but may not have locked away the skeletons in his closet quite as tightly as he thought. If you love a British crime series, this is definitely one to bookmark.

Have we left out one of your favorite Trevor Eve performances?