ON SET WITH... Olivia Williams

Olivia, 48, who appeared in the movies The Sixth Sense and Peter Pan, returns to British TV in racy new period drama The Halcyon, set in a five-star London hotel during the Second World War. Here she talks us through a week on the show's west London set...

9 MONDAY

I play Lady Hamilton in The Halcyon, the widow of the hotel’s owner Lord Hamilton. She moved into the hotel after he died in last week’s opening episode, but she has no passion for the place – she regards it as a high-class brothel. Today we’re in the middle of an air raid, so we have to troop into a bunker. As usual, Lady Hamilton’s being annoying. ‘How inconvenient,’ she says to Mr Garland, the hotel manager played by Steven Mackintosh. He tells her he has no control over the German bombers.

10 TUESDAY

Lady Hamilton has no experience of running hotels and she’s used to people doing what she tells them. In today’s scenes she manages to upset a member of staff. She has elements of the battleaxe about her but she’s under tremendous pressure. You try to love your character but she makes it quite hard. She’s bleeding into my normal life too. Last night after work I went to Sainsbury’s in full make-up and asked in a cut-glass accent, ‘Where is the recycled lavatory paper?’ I need to let her go a bit more.

11 WEDNESDAY

Today I’m filming with Edward Bluemel, who plays my younger son Toby [right]. His twin Freddie, played by Jamie Blackley, is the heir because he’s older by just four minutes. Lady Hamilton may seem unfeeling, but she loves Toby and understands him at a profound level even if he doesn’t see it.

12 THURSDAY

I’ve wanted to work with Steven Mackintosh for almost my whole career. We were neighbours for years in north London and first met walking our dogs. So it’s nice to work together on The Halcyon, but things are fraught between our characters. Mr Garland knows everybody and how to fix everything, but Lady Hamilton has no idea how brilliant he is. She just thinks of him as a procurer for her late husband’s infidelities, so she tries to get rid of him. She’s on a steep learning curve as she discovers she’s reliant on the people for whom she has only contempt.

13 FRIDAY

Many of the other women in the show are in uniform, so the budget’s been blown on Lady Hamilton’s wardrobe; she’s the Imelda Marcos of The Halcyon. Our wonderful costume designer has trawled through high-class vintage stores in London and Paris so I get to wear these beautiful, sophisticated clothes. I’m also wearing some wonderful things that belonged to my grandmothers. There’s a velvet coat and a powder puff which looks like a bullet case. I haven’t done as much costume drama as I thought I would, so I’m really enjoying this chance to dress up.