 In October and November 1997 , Channel 4 presented the novel sequence in four television films , with a screenplay by Hugh Whitemore , produced by Peter Amsorge . Widmerpool was played by Simon Russell Beale ; in a generally critical review of the first film of the series , Thomas Sutcliffe in The Independent refers to Beale 's performance as particularly good , bearing in mind the " thin ledges of characterisation " the script provides to the cast . The journalist David Aaronovitch thought Beale 's interpretation of the character definitive : " ... the Widmerpool who insinuated his podgy bulk into my private space was ... Simon Russell Beale 's Widmerpool , who has come to stay " . Reviewing the reissue of the films in DVD in 2012 , Stuart Jeffries in The Guardian describes Widmerpool as " one of fiction 's most intriguing monsters " and likens Beale 's portrayal to that of " a kind of grown @-@ up Billy Bunter with the charm sucked out " . Christopher Hitchens , writing in the New York Review of Books , criticised the production ( though not Beale 's performance ) , for depicting Widmerpool as " a hapless rather than a hateful figure " . 
