KEELEY HAWES

FINDING ALICE

Tomorrow, 9.10pm, ITV

1 My character is Alice [main picture], whose partner Harry has died after falling down the stairs at their new home. I’m in almost every scene and in some ways that is easier for me – if you come in and out of a show, you have to overcome the nerves every time you go back on set.

2 I’m also helping to produce this series. I was asked to executive produce the last series of The Durrells, and I loved being part of the process. It was important to me that Finding Alice was as diverse and as gender-balanced as possible. I want to be able to give other women a leg up.

3 Joanna Lumley and Nigel Havers, who play Alice’s mother and father [inset above], both helped change the script’s tone, making it even more nuanced and funnier. When asked who we should approach to play my mum, Joanna was my first choice.

4 We were halfway through filming when we were hit by the pandemic and had to break for six months. Coming back, we knew we had to be extra careful as we had four cast members who were in their 70s or nearly. Everyone was tested regularly and we all wore masks apart from when we were filming.

5 In one scene I get intimate with another character, closer than was comfortable because of Covid. But someone had the brilliant idea of bringing in this actor’s wife and putting a wig on her, and getting her to double for me. So at the point that I had to get closer, I stepped aside, she came in, they had their moment, then I stepped back in and carried on shooting!