In a little under 30 years and from pub theatres to global feature films, I've played a range of roles, mostly authoritative / establishment / institutional figures, sometimes with an underscore of humour or nastiness or vulnerability or ridiculousness as required. If you scroll down, you'll see a list of some of my favourites. Inevitably, it includes a few of the bigger roles I've played, but in recent years I believe I've come to be seen as a reliable actor of supporting characters in larger productions - the guy whose focus and preparation enables (er, supports) more recognisable faces to give their very best performance without getting in their way, for directors to shoot the very best version of their scene without having to question my professional discipline and experience. Collaboration in its truest sense. "It's amazing what you can achieve if you don't care who gets the credit", as Harry S. Truman is reputed to have said - but might not have. Which seems apt.
None of this suggests I'd be unavailable should the casting of James Bond undergo a radical rethink
A few notables
TV & Film
Justice Calvert-Smith in ITV's I Fought The Law directed by Erik Richter-Strand, with whom I had previously worked on The Crown
Spurlock in Netflix' Death By Lightning directed by Matt Ross
George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury in the final two seasons of Netflix' The Crown, directed variously by May El-Toukhy, Christian Schwochow and Erik Richter-Strand
LSE Official in RVK Studios' feature film Touch directed by Baltasar Kormákur
Charles, a publisher in Sony Pictures' feature film Greed directed by Michael Winterbottom
Maester Wolkan in the final three seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones directed variously by Jeremy Podeswa, Mark Mylod, Matt Shakman, Alan Taylor, David Nutter and David Benioff & D.B. Weiss
Election Official in the Miramax feature film Bridget Jones's Baby, directed by Sharon Maguire
Speaker of The House of Commons in BBC's Wolf Hall directed by Peter Kosminsky
Lawyer Richard Molloy in ITV's Secret Smile directed by Christopher Menaul, with whom I'd previously worked on ITV's Planespotting
Theatre
Kit Green's immersive theatre shows Office Party – "The pompous CEO... played to bombastic perfection" (Back Stage Pass), "Charismatic and funny but played with exactly the right level of arrogance" (West End Broadway) - and Prurience and The Home (in each of which I was an 'undercover audience plant' so not named in publicity)
Alan Bennett's Hector (The History Boys) – “The scene is emotionally intense yet frustratingly restrained, well acted by both Murphy and Rycroft whose subtlety emphasises unspoken action over restricted dialogue" (A Younger Theatre), "An unrivalled abundance of charm, charisma and comic timing... divine" (Gay Times)
Ben Jonson's Sir Epicure Mamon (The Alchemist) – "... very comfortable with the barbed demands of Jonson's language" (Evening Standard), "Rycroft shows a real feeling for the language" (The Times), "Very funny" (Financial Times)
Shakespearean characters Leonato (Much Ado), Capulet (R&J) and Polonius (Hamlet) – “Richard Rycroft's Polonius was beautifully observed... a wonderfully sensitive and original interpretation" (Oxford Daily Info)
Other
Dr. Neilson, a psychiatrist, in several short video sketches by and with Richard Gadd for his stage show Breaking Gadd
Multiple video productions and sketches with Turtle Canyon Comedy directed variously by Alastair Clayton and Stuart Laws, including John in the 4 part web series Charity Starts At Home (John later returned for a cameo in their web series Content) and Dave, a phone-in caller in Positive Soup
Numerous cameo and featured characters in comedy video projects with James Acaster, Catherine Bohart, Doc. Brown (Ben Bailey Smith), Holly Burn, Rhys James, Mark Simmons, Sindhu Vee and others