In 2004, Standen appeared in Waking the Dead, the Second World War documentary drama Ten Days to D-Day, and took the lead role of Major Alan Marshall in the Zero Hour TV dramatisation of the SAS mission, operation Barras, in Sierra Leone. The next year he appeared in three episodes of the British soap Doctors and Tom Brown's Schooldays, the acclaimed ITV adaptation of the book by Thomas Hughes. Standen played Private Carl Harris in three episodes of the fourth series of the relaunched British sci-fi show Doctor Who. The following year he played 'Archer', the brother of Robin Hood in the BBC TV series Robin Hood. Standen was part of the main cast of the TV series Camelot for Starz (TV network) in which he portrayed the famous Arthurian knight Sir Gawain.