By Slanted Light

Squeeeee from me too! I know, I know, it's several years later than your enthusiastic posts about Apparitions, but I thought you wouldn't mind too much me chiming in, since I only recently bought the Apparitions DVD set and (having missed its original run on TV) was able to sit down and watch this fantastic series. I actually watched not one, but two episodes each evening. And also enjoyed very much the interview with Martin. Quite long too :)
Knowing nothing about how this miniseries came about, I was pleasantly surprised reading the credits that Martin had been Consultant Producer. Still don't know what it means, but I believe it's probably got to do with Martin having had an input in getting the series greenlighted by the producers/backers by researching the subject, coming up with ideas and answers to questions...? I don't know...
But I was very happy to see his performance here. Not a subject matter I would immediately be attracted to, so all the more credit to him, the creator/producer/main screenwriter, and some of the other actors' performances too. And the other production values were very high too, especially the set decoration and photography.

And yes, as other commenters have said, Martin's performance was riveting, mesmerising. You just can't take your eyes off the screen each scene he's in. Talk about screen presence! And the older he gets, the more he seems able to communicate these wonderful qualities of calmness, kindness, integrity, without becoming a superhero, but retaining his down-to-earth humanity and fallibility. And all that with a gorgeous screen presence and charm you also find in JJD and GG, but also very specific to the character of Father Jacob.

And... cherry on the cake for me, as an Italian gal. He speaks Italian really well, with the hint of a British accent yes, but with an almost impeccable cadence and rhythm (he stresses the right sillable in a word, emphasizes the right word/s in a sentence,,, which is a sign he's really learned the meaning of the words and is not just reading a script dotted with Italian words). I was equally impressed, and moved, hearing Martin speaking Italian in GG too. The man can do no wrong in my view! Whatever he does, he does not improvise... he studies the part really well, and you can see the result on screen. He lends gravitas, charm and credibility to any part he plays...