In March 2004, he appeared in Tony Marchant's "Passer By", playing Joe Keyes, a man who witnesses a woman being accosted by some men on a train and chooses not to help. Keyes later discovers that the woman was raped but cannot bring himself to admit in court that he did nothing to help her. Nesbitt described Keyes as "like a better man than me: a good father and husband. But, once he has made a wrong decision, he can't control everything in his life, as he thinks he is weak. He loses the respect of his wife, his son and at work, and has to reach the lowest possible point before finding redemption." As a result of these serious roles, he was named the sixth most powerful figure in TV drama in a listing compiled by industry experts for the "Radio Times". In September 2004, he starred as Jack Parlabane in the ITV adaptation of Christopher Brookmyre's "Quite Ugly One Morning". The producers originally wanted Scottish actor Douglas Henshall to play Glaswegian Parlabane but ITV executives overruled them and cast Nesbitt. He was given coaching to perfect the accent but it was soon discarded on the advice of both the director and his co-star Daniela Nardini. Also in 2004, he filmed the roles of Ronnie Cunningham in "Millions" (Danny Boyle, 2004), and Detective Banner in "Match Point" (Woody Allen, 2005). He was considering taking time off from acting and did not really want the role in "Match Point". He sent in an audition tape and was accepted for the part. Nesbitt's character appears at the end of the film and he read only that part of the script, so did not know the full circumstances of the crime Banner investigates. Despite his initial reluctance, Nesbitt enjoyed working with Allen, and complimented him on his directing style.