Hayley Atwell

The Agent Carter star is a dame to kill for

CARTER THE UNSTOPPABLE

“We know that she lives well into her nineties. So I’m hoping I play her for the rest of my life! She could actually live through all the different decades. It would be great to see what they do with her hair! If we took it to a different era we could bring up the civil rights movement, we could bring up a lot of social issues that Mad Men has done so brilliantly. It has great scope to grow, but of course it’s dependent on how it’s received and what the fans want – and when they get sick of her, basically. I’m certainly not going to quit any time soon. I do love playing her.”

GODDESS WORSHIP

“People I looked up to – and wanted Peggy to somehow emulate – were people like Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis, the women of the golden age of Hollywood that had gravitas. These women that were bright and formidable and notorious, and yet warm and vulnerable and delicate at the same time. Just complex. And that’s something I’ve always aspired to be.”

THAT’S FIGHTING TALK!

“In the playground I was called Hulk Hayley. I was quite rough. I didn’t know how to use my words for a long time, so I would just punch and kick people. Unfortunately about six stuntmen were hurt in the making of this, because of me. They were kicked in the ball region. I have a very deadly mixture of confidence without the skills.”

LA NOIR

“We’re relocating to Los Angeles [ for season two]. I keep thinking of something like LA Confidential, especially in the 1940s. I associate it with organised crime and this very glamorous, dark underbelly of Los Angeles; serial killers, the Black Dahlia, these unsolved murder mysteries… and the glamour of celebrity, or the neurosis that celebrity created. That could be a very exciting backdrop to have more adventures for Peggy. I think it’s also time that she moves on from Steve. I think there might be a new love interest. She’s grieved enough now, come on. We all have needs.”