Jean-Luc Picard

It feels like cherry-picking to single out Patrick Stewart’s role as Picard when remembering the actor, who died yesterday, because he played so many roles so brilliantly, both on stage and screen. But to a lot of people – myself included – not only was our introduction to Sir Patrick his role as Jean-Luc Picard in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, but the quiet force, hopefulness, command and, above all, humanity that he brought to his character throughout his voyages on the Enterprise permanently etched him in our memories as an inspirational figure. Sir Patrick said as much himself: ‘Without question, Jean-Luc is the most significant role of my career.’ A piece in The Guardian, that was published shortly after his obituary, beautifully captures the essence of this, putting Picard in the context of Sir Patrick’s other roles, especially his plays of Shakespeare on stage. ‘Stewart’s years performing Shakespeare,’ writes Ben Child in that article, ‘prepared him for men whose public…