Prior Philip

Philip and his brother Francis lose their parents as boys and grow up among monks. On the show, it's Prior James who brings Philip to Kingsbridge Priory. He becomes a serious monk with a simple faith, one who believes in hard work and distrusts anyone who treats the Church as a ladder to power.

Philip is elected prior of Kingsbridge and soon learns the job puts him in the middle of the fight between the Church and the nobles. The priory is poor, the monks are comfortable, and Waleran Bigod is always nearby, weighing what he can gain from each of Philip's moves. Philip learns fast that good intentions don't pay for stone or masons.

Philip bets on Tom and later on Jack, Tom's stepson, a difficult and gifted young man. On the show, Tom asks Jack to carve a statue of St. Adolphus for the church, and Philip sees the build's future master in him. Even as he clashes with Jack's rebellious streak, the prior protects him when enemies try to push him aside.

Fire destroys the old Kingsbridge church, and the saint's remains are lost in the flames. Philip sees a chance in the disaster: he hires Tom Builder, a mason who dreams of a cathedral, and together they plan something far bigger than the church that stood there. From then on, Philip's life is about finding money, stone and workers for a build that will take decades.

The Hamleighs attack the town, Waleran treats the build as a piece in his game, and King Stephen comes to see the work in person. Inside the priory, the monk Remigius wants his job. In episode 7, Philip actually loses the priorship to Remigius, and the cathedral seems to slip out of his hands.

In the end, Jack is put on trial with Waleran in charge. Jack's mother, Ellen, reveals that the bishop set up the death of Jack's father, and the crowd turns on the guilty: William Hamleigh goes to the gallows and Waleran falls from the cathedral roof. Philip remains prior of Kingsbridge, with his life's work standing.

Matthew Macfadyen, the show's Philip, was Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice (2005) and, years later, Tom Wambsgans on Succession.