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Spoilers below forBodyguardandits ending.
kindly dont ask Keeley Hawes if shes dead.
Lets get this into perspective, people, she says.
Its quite odd, because people keep asking me ifImdead.
whenshe gets blown up by a terrorist.
We have to talk about this first: You die halfway through the show!
I did another show with Jed Mercurio calledLine of Dutyand he killed me in that, too.
Hes getting in the habit of that.
I was only supposed to be in one [season] and then he asked me to go back.
And I went back, but we didnt tell anybody, so it was a really great surprise.
So I think people in this country thought, Oh, he wont do that again.
Then you dont know where you are because then nobodys safe.
He takes risks, and there isnt really anybody else like him here.
I love working with Jed and we had such a nice time.
I happily would have worked with Richard forever, but, you know …
I kept thinking, Oh, she cant be dead.
I havent seen the funeral yet.
Maybe shell come back.
Did people ask you if it was a fake out as it aired in the UK?Constantly.
The reaction here was incredible.
I personally havent known anything else like it.
It was just a really exciting thing to be part of.
People were asking the prime minister her views on it.
She was giving her view and it was like,Wow, this is extraordinary.
So yes, I was suddenly very, very popular.
People asked me if I was really dead.
It was quite worrying, Is Keeley really dead?
Lets get this into perspective, people.
Its quite odd, because people keep asking me if Im dead.
In those first few episodes, the relationship between Julia and David is so compelling.
Julia is in control, but then she has to cede control to her bodyguard.
And theyre completely at odds politically.
How did you two approach playing that?We didnt do a chemistry read.
Id never met Richard until we arrived at the read-through.
We were just thrown into this thing together.
It couldnt have been better, as far as Im concerned.
We just got on so well.
I would highly recommend working with Richard Madden.
We laughed all the time.
Theres something so perfect about the way he says Maam to Julia.It sounds like Mum, doesnt it?
In an American accent.
Yeah, it sort of becomes Freudian.Theres a whole other aspect that we have no idea about.
Theres a compilation withhow many times he says Maam.And its something ridiculous it goes into the hundreds or whatever.
Its me with lots and lots of dialogue, and occasionally he would say, Yes, Maam.
I dont envy any politicians in any country.
Its so hard what they do, looking after the safety of the country.
You know, the public image.
I like her as a person.
I dont share her views, but I am sympathetic to her.
I think that helped, and the more intimate scenes, Richard was really helpful for that.
Speaking of those intimate scenes, a lot of character dynamics come into play when the characters have sex.
Julia masturbates in front of him, for instance.
The idea is just to make them as real as possible and intimate and feel real.
Richard was very cool with it and nobody was doing anything they felt uncomfortable with.
Those kind of things, theyre just awkward.
Theres 15 people in the room.
Its just part and parcel of the whole thing and important to tell the story.
Jed uses a lot of experts.
We had political advisors and people who had been bodyguards and that sort of thing.
It was the first time Ive ever seen it in the flesh.
Filming it was very odd, always having somebody by your side, always having somebody there.
To see it in action is really interesting.
Your husband Matthew Macfadyen was filmingSuccession, right?
Have you watched it?
The cast are uniformly excellent and the writing is just exquisite.
We dont often sit and watch each others shows, but I watched it and I couldnt stop.
Its been a real hit over here.
It does follow me around, thats not a bad thing.
Because its great, isnt it?
