Checking in with ASHLEY JENSEN

Actors have different ways of getting into a character.

For some, it’s shadowing someone who does what their character does, like a cop or firefighter. For others, it’s meeting the person they’re portraying, if possible. And for still others, donning the get-up will do it.

Ashley Jensen, who portrays the chic PR maven-turned-amateur sleuth of the title in “Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham” – the Season 3 opener of the British “Agatha Raisin” mystery series that begins streaming Monday, Nov. 19, on Acorn TV – falls into the last category.

“(It has) a lot to do the silhouette and the costumes and the makeup,” the 49-year-old Scottish actress explains. “And I think my hair wasn’t in the Agatha Raisin bob before I did this job. So as soon as I got that haircut, the very high maintenance hairdo and the full makeup, I felt different because Ashley Jensen is not hugely high maintenance . ... I felt and moved and stood differently when I wore the figure-hugging clothes and the heels and held the bag and stuff.”

But in Monday’s opener, Agatha looks anything but glamorous. She’s down and disheveled after her on-again/off-again relationship with her ex is off again and she’s in need of change. This sends her to her local hairdresser, a charming man who gives her a whole new look while lending a sympathetic ear. But it turns out he’s done this with more than a few women in their small English village and he’s privy to a few dark secrets. Secrets dark enough to get him killed.

Enter Aggie to figure out whodunit.

“She’s just such a confident, brash, forthright character and she’s a woman of a certain age and stands up and is counted,” Jensen says. “... A three-dimensional character who is a woman in her 40s who is a bit vulnerable sometimes and we sometimes see her behind the mask of makeup and the heels. And I think that that helps the character resonate with an audience.”

Full name: Ashley Samantha Jensen

Birth date: Aug. 11, 1969

Birthplace: Annan, Scotland

Alma mater: Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland

Family ties: widowed, the mother of 9-year-old Francis

TV credits include: “Roughnecks,” “EastEnders,” “Rebus,” “Silent Witness,” “The Office” (U.K. version, voice only), “Eleventh Hour,” “Extras,” “Ugly Betty,” “Accidentally on Purpose,” “Catastrophe,” “Love, Lies and Records”

Movie credits include: “Tickets for the Zoo” (1991), “Topsy-Turvy” (1999), “Nativity!” (2009), “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010; voice), “Gnomeo & Juliet” (2011; voice), “Hysteria” (2011), “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” (2012; voice), “All Stars” (2013), “Small Time” (2014), “Barney Thomson” (2015), “Indian Summer” (forthcoming) Favorite book: “George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘1984.’ ”

Favorite movie: “It’s interesting. One of my favorite movies is ‘Rocky,’ where everyone goes ‘Ay!’ (laughs). I love an underdog story and I love the fact that (Sylvester Stallone) wrote it and he got it made and I just love his performance and I love the kind of feeling of the kind of late-‘70s/early-‘80s films. I think it’s a real kind of golden era of filmmaking . ... It took me by surprise, which is why it’s one of my favorite films.”