I recall a magical moment during my masters’, when I was in class and the lecturer mentioned Thomas Hardy’s novels. The student next to me, a friend who is a fabulous woman full of fun and a great artist, started to rub her thighs and make a growling noise. She said, ‘Ooooh, I looove Tom Hardy.’

‘So do I,’ the lecturer said, beaming at the idea of a conversation about literature. ‘My favourites are Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge…’

My friend nodded. ‘And Wuthering Heights. And The Dark Knight.’

The lecturer, who is both brilliant and adorable, was a bit fazed. ‘Wuthering Heights? That’s Brontë…’

Of course you know what had happened. The lecturer meant Thomas Hardy the novelist, and my friend meant Tom Hardy the heartthrob actor.

I love both Toms.

Thomas Hardy, the writer, examined the social constraints on the lives of those living in Victorian England, criticising beliefs relating to sex, marriage, education and religion, that limited people’s lives and caused them unhappiness.

But in this blog post, I want to talk about Tom, the actor, who has played such incredible roles from Heathcliff to both Kray twins, from Handsome Bob to Ivan Locke and Bane. I adore his work because of his acting skills, his nuanced performances and the intelligence he brings to his interpretations. I love how he will perform a character that may be good or bad, flawed or dreadful, but there is never a sense of judgement or blame, just a fair representation of a member of the human race. I am so in awe of that.

I recently had a chat with a novelist colleague who wrote a main character who isn’t completely likeable and was standing firmly behind her creation. Fair play to her – that’s what her clever book demands, totally.

I can see why readers want to read about characters they like, but then again, I’m all for inclusivity. Not all characters in every book should be perfect, although it’s important for the readers to root for central characters as the novel develops, as it helps them to empathise with them.I try to do that all the time in my writing – readers come first.

I recently read a review of my novel The Lady of the Loch – the reviewer gave me a good rating – but she said the character of young Effie ‘behaved as if she was about five.’ I thought that was judgemental, unkind, and it told me a lot about the reviewer’s ability to be empathic, to read in depth. In the story, Effie was ‘born backwards’ when her mother gave birth to her. She had no mother alive to guide her. She was immature, tentative, dependent, a late developer. Not everyone is blessed with a high IQ and good fortune. There is a place for all characters in novels, good and bad, attractive and less so, from all walks of life. The world is wonderful but it’s not perfect, and if people want perfect men and women in books, then I wouldn’t direct them towards mine. I want to write books in which flawed characters triumph, develop, find new beginnings, new friends, love, new lives. Or not. And that’s why I love Tom Hardy’s acting.

In The Revenant, Tom plays John Fitzgerald, who is a character we dislike for his attitude to people and animals. But Hardy plays him with conviction and depth. He’s real. We understand his background, why he behaves as he does, the terrible thing that happened to him in the past. In Stuart – a Life Backwards, Tom plays Stuart Shorter, who is a homeless alcoholic who leads a complicated life because of the disturbing memories of his troubled childhood. Hardy plays him with warmth, humour and empathy, and we the viewers get it. We don’t expect to like everything about him but we do expect to understand what has shaped the character.

In Mad Max he kills lots of people. In Venom, he is Eddie, the likeable reporter who is bonded to an alien entity. From this unrealistic scenario, Tom Hardy’s character makes an implausible story plausible. In Wuthering Heights, his Heathcliff isn’t always kind or honourable, but Hardy’s skill with subtext in his performance enables us to understand the nuances of his character and the reasons for his behaviour. We get him.

And then there’s his role as Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders. I love his performance in that series. The acting throughout is of such a high standard, with Cillian Murphy and Helen McCrory putting in the most incredible performances – again, they are flawed characters, but we respect and warm to them. (Just check out the nuns’ scene for great scripting and performance!) (And it’s one of the few programmes to feature Romani language and deal with anti-ziganism.)

But Tom steals the show.

His character Alfie Solomons was a Jewish gang leader who lived in Camden Town at the beginning of the twentieth century. Hardy’s depiction of him is perfect: he turns an antihero into a hero of sorts, a real character we can understand. Perhaps another actor might have made him totally evil, or totally dislikeable, or comic. It would be easy to play the role in a way which could be viewed as antisemitic. But Tom Hardy plays him with empathy; we don’t judge him harshly or hate him. We get him. He’s credible; he is who he is due to his past, his circumstances, his heritage, the era in which he lives. And the performance is entertaining. It’s about inclusivity – one of my favourite words when writing novels. It should be present in all art.

I love Tom Hardy because he is a brilliant actor. (Many people will say that he’s easy on the eye too, but he doesn’t choose roles in order to look good, which is another thing I admire…) His performances are nuanced, intelligent, deep, informed, complete. We aren’t looking for a superficial character that we can judge; it’s much more interesting than simply liking or hating him. The world is complex – we need to understand him, to know what makes him tick, why he does what he does, thinks and feels.

I’ve just written a lead male role in a novel – a love interest – who has ADHD. His timekeeping is awful and he puts his diving equipment in his living room in the place of furniture. He certainly isn’t superficial. He’s complicated, intelligent, heroic and adorable. I hope readers will understand his motivation, what makes him tick. I hope they’ll get him; and not judge him because he’s a little bit different. It’s all about the inclusivity.

Tom Hardy’s performances embody what I love about all arts – inclusivity, complexity, depth, understanding, honesty. His characters are real, credible and intelligently performed. He is a master of his trade and he has the ability to turn a mediocre film into a watchable one and a good film into a great one.

Thomas Hardy the writer said ‘Some folk want their luck buttered.’ That’s also true of the arts. Some folk want their characters buttered too. And that’s fair enough. There are plenty of novels, films, paintings that cater for it.

But for me, every time, let’s make our art reflect the real world, the depth and complexity of it all. Let’s be inclusive. For me, there’s no other way.