British babe Blake Ritson may not be tall, but he’s definitely dark and handsome! Did we mention he’s also brainy? The heady hottie attended St Paul’s School in West London on an academic scholarship before going to Cambridge. After graduating, the lovely lad landed roles on stage (Macbeth, Arcadia); on radio (Sense and Sensibility); on film (Titus, Me Without You); and on the boob tube (The League of Gentlemen, Indian Summers, Krypton). Early in his career, Blake appeared in Guy Ritchie’s crime flick RocknRolla (2008) alongside Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Toby Kebbell, and Chris Bridges. He then went back in time to perform opposite Romola Garai in Jane Austen’s Emma (2009) and the Victorian drama The Crimson Petal and the White (2011). With those miniseries as well as TV movies (Mansfield Park, The Romantics), Mr. Ritson proved to be popular in period pieces. Yet the best part of a costume drama is when the leading man removes his shirt! Perhaps that’s why we loved Blake’s topless turn in the historical fantasy Da Vinci’s Demons (2013-2015). Nowadays, he portrays Oscar Van Rijn on the HBO show The Gilded Age (2022) wherein he reveals his bare chest and homosexual preferences for Claybourne Elder! Of course, Blake is best known for reigning on the small screen as King Edward III in the miniseries World Without End (2012) and as The Duke of Kent on the BBC saga Upstairs Downstairs (2010-2012). Alas, he didn’t expose his royal hind-ass. What a regal tease!