Keeley Hawes interview - Radio Times, February 2008

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Keeley Hawes interview - Radio Times, February 2008

In Ashes to Ashes she plays a police psychologist, but what will Keeley Hawes reveal about herself to Andrew Duncan?

Keeley Hawes on…attending stage school

"There were about 40 of us, all different ages, and it was erratic - workshops, singing lessons - which I loved. By the time I left eight years later, there were 250 pupils and it was a full-on experience. Parents nowadays send their children to stage school because they have their eye on fame or becoming a pop star. Elocution lessons helped me enormously. I had a London accent, so RP [received pronunciation] stood me in good stead early on when I played well-spoken ladies in lots of costume dramas."

…Dennis Potter's Karaoke

"It was my first grown-up role, and I found it difficult. The huge press interest took me by surprise, and I made lots of mistakes. I wish I'd been more savvy."

…Ashes to Ashes

"It is another cop show, but it's about so many different things as well. Alex thinks she's the boss, but isn't, although she knows what's what. I have a big perm - personally, I don't like them - so at least that's distracting, if you don't enjoy the police side. Although 1981 isn't that far away, the changes are immense, particularly for women. Expectations are higher now and we can have it all."

…the appeal of DCI Gene Hunt

"Women are fed up with New Man, and possibly some men feel castrated by feminism. I'm sure a lot like being the breadwinner."

…husband Matthew Macfadyen

"Matthew is laid-back. He thinks hard about everything. He's a true artiste, you know, with his feet firmly on the ground. A lot of ladies have set up websites about him, and when he did a play at the Royal Court last year, they were at the stage door, probably because of Mr Darcy [he played opposite Keira Knightley in the 2005 film Pride & Prejudice]. Why not? He's terribly sweet and blushes. I'm not jealous. I see the appeal."

…media intrusion and celebrity culture

"It [tabloid interest when she left her first husband, cartoonist Spencer McCallum, for Matthew Macfadyen] affected others - my parents and my ex-husband, who's now my best friend. I feel bad because I know how unhappy he was, but there were much worse things going on in the world. The awful part was that every newspaper said I was a lousy mother. There were pictures of Matthew and me walking along the street without Myles [her son] - yet he was a few feet behind. You want to shout and scream, 'I'm not a lousy mother'."

"Celebrity culture is so sad. I wish there was a way of separating those who work hard for a living from the Big Brother, paparazzi-type celebrity who makes money quickly, although I imagine it's easy to fall into that."

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