SECRETS AND LIES Keeley Hawes on Bodyguard, feminism and her forthcoming TV spy thriller

Keeley Hawes returns in another gripping tale set within the corridors of power. By Lucy Half head

From her captivating performance as a devoted mother in the ITV adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals to a star turn in the remarkable true-life drama Mrs Wilson, Keeley Hawes has barely been off the television this past year. ‘Everyone says I’m a workaholic,’ she says, ‘but if you can find something to do that doesn’t feel like work, then you’re winning at life.’

And then of course there was Bodyguard, in which Hawes’ compelling portrayal of the Home Secretary Julia Montague confirmed her as one of the most watchable actors of her generation (a record-breaking 17.1 million people tuned in to the finale). ‘I was in Corfu filming The Durrells when the first two episodes aired, and I came back to this overwhelming reaction,’ she says. ‘At least it diverted attention away from bloody Brexit for a minute!’ Hawes is about to return to our screens – and to politics – as Priscilla, an exacting Cabinet Office civil servant, in Traitors, Channel 4’s new six-part show. The series, written by Bash Doran, who penned episodes of Boardwalk Empire and Masters of Sex, is set in the aftermath of World War II. It centres around a British woman, Feef Symonds, played by Emma Appleton, who is leading a double life as a spy for the Americans.

‘It’s a man’s world, and Priscilla is something of a role model to Feef,’ Hawes says. ‘There was an extraordinary practice called the marriage bar, which meant that when the men came back from war, married women had to give up work and get back into the kitchen. Priscilla is forward-thinking, and lobbies for this to be lifted.’

In today’s era of strained political relations and Time’s Up, Traitors looks set to strike a chord with audiences, just as Hawes’ first espionage series Spooks did back in 2002. How has she stayed at the top of her game for so long? ‘I’ve been spoilt to death with lovely projects,’ she says self-deprecatingly. In fact, it’s Hawes who has been spoiling us.

‘Traitors’ will be shown on Channel 4 in February and on Netflix later in the year.