Hawes stars in Scoop, a retelling of the Duke of York's car crash, Newsnight interview in 2019. Photo: Charlotte Hadden
Keeley Hawes runs on adrenaline. We meet in a café on London's Drury Lane at the start of her nine-week theater stint, performing in Body of Man at the Donmar Warehouse six nights a week, with rehearsals during the day. She takes off her coat (it's from Row) and we order tea; she can't stomach anything anymore.
Hawes is “magnificent,” as the newspapers will write in the coming days. But she doesn't know that yet. As we talk, she nervously twirls her pendant necklaces, horseshoe, and six-up dice.
“Theater feels like a marathon, especially if you haven’t done it for 10 years,” she says. “Last night at 1am after the show we were in this building redoing the stage for tonight. It definitely keeps me on my toes.”
With stage, television and film roles currently playing out, Hawes has achieved the acting triple dream — even if she's too tired to appreciate it at the moment. the very moment. At 48, she is one of Britain's best-loved talents. Her hits include «Tipping the Velvet» and «The Durrells», «Line of Duty» and «Bodyguard».
Wool jacket, £940, and matching trousers, £655, both by Ami; leather brogues, £980, Church's; gold and diamond necklace, £30,720, Tabayer; gold ring with diamonds, £14,400, Messika
Her husband of 20 years, Matthew Macfadyen, is also very busy. Hawes missed watching him win the SAG Award due to her own performances, but was in Hollywood a few weeks before to see him win an Emmy for his defining role as Tom Wambsgans in Succession. Together, they have become a power couple to watch (on every stage, channel and streaming service) in the entertainment world. Yet at home in west London they manage to lead a fairly normal life.
Hawes and husband Matthew Macfadyen at the ceremony Emmy Awards in January. This year the couple will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. Photo: Getty
“It can be a little difficult for us to go out to dinner without being interrupted,” she confirms. “It’s harder when it’s the end of Legacy, or something happens on Sunday night, or when Line of Duty is on. Then we just don't go out, there's no point in trying. But that's okay, we understand that it's part of celebrating success and usually people just say nice things. It makes us laugh when they tell us that we are taller than they thought, or fatter, or that they prefer me as a blonde. It's something you get used to. Something like that.
Her next role is a turnaround in a Netflix film. Scoop retells the story of the Duke of York's 2019 Newsnight car crash interview, in which he faced tough questioning from Emily Maitlis over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Duke then stepped back from royal duties and paid around £12 million, without admitting liability, to Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of having sex with her when she was 17 and was a victim of Epstein's human trafficking.
Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew in the new Netflix film Scoop Photo: Netflix
Rufus Sewell portrays the surprisingly portly Prince Andrew, and Gillian Anderson spicy Maitlis. Hawes plays Amanda Thirsk, the prince's personal secretary. She is in the background, but plays an important role: according to Scoop, the interview was arranged with Thirsk's consent.
«She wanted everyone to see him through her eyes, and in her eyes, he's a great guy,» Hawes says, smiling through clenched teeth.
Directed by Philip Martin, who oversaw the early episodes of The Crown, Scoop is also gripping as it takes us inside the palace walls. We follow the mechanics of setting up an interview based on the diary kept by Sam McAllister (played on screen by Billie Piper), the BBC booker who secured it through negotiations with Thirsk. You know what's going to happen—you watched it the first time—but that won't stop you from cringing again at the sight of Sewell scratching his chubby chin, making excuses.
“And the whole Prince Andrew team thought it went very well,” says Hawes. “They high-fived each other. It wasn't until it went live and Twitter started going viral that they realized the impact it had. Nobody knew he was going to start talking about Pizza Express. Nobody knew that he was going to throw those grenades into this interview. And yet it came out.”
Hawes plays Amanda Thirsk, Prince Andrew's private secretary. Photo: Netflix
Unlike other characters in this real-life melodrama, there was very little of Amanda Thirsk in the public domain for Hawes to explore. A Cambridge graduate, Thirsk led the Prince's Pitch@Palace initiative for entrepreneurs and accompanied him to all his official events.
“She's in the background, that's her role,” Hawes explains of how she studied Thirsk's mannerisms. “She stands behind him in many photographs, but does not give interviews. I think overall she comes out of it quite well – you don’t want to demonize someone [who himself has done nothing wrong]. «I think she really had his best interests at heart.»
Although the article's main subject is Andrew Sewell's Prince, Hawes notes that Scoop «is really all about women. It was these four women who made this possible and caused the downfall of an important member of the royal family; This is no small feat.»
These four are Thirsk, Macalister, Maitlis and Princess Beatrice (played by Charity Wakefield). The princess, according to Scoop, influenced her father's decision to give the interview — she was reportedly present at talks with the Newsnight team at Buckingham Palace — in an attempt to rehabilitate his public image. «It was a decisive moment when he made a decision and Beatrice was there,» says Hawes.
Thirsk's misplaced admiration for her employer is perhaps understandable, says Hawes, given the historical press adoration showered on the late queen's favorite son. «The people I've spoken to who know Prince Andrew are full of love for him,» she says. “Because he's a great guy. Of course he is. It's easy to forget — and I grew up during that period — but we glorified these people. Bill Wyman and his teenage fiancee Randy Andy in military fatigues. They were sexy – it sounds disgusting now, but it was heroic.”
Revisiting the events she saw in the media at the time was uncomfortable: «It's very difficult now to go back to it and imagine through a completely different lens how this behavior was viewed,» she said. speaks. “I'm not sure these people really thought they were doing anything wrong at the time. They've been very open about it, and of course things change and we all say, «It's not really like that.»
The Royal Family is aware of Scoop, but, as with The Crown, is unlikely to comment on it publicly. “And they shouldn’t do that,” Hawes says.
“I guess it's part and parcel of being in this family. I don't envy any of them, but I'm sure they see it as just one more thing to move on from. We are honest; there is nothing that we don’t already know.”
“She’s in the background, that’s her role,” he said. Hawes explains about how she studied Thirsk's mannerisms. Photo: Netflix
However, I say she's more looking forward to the Golden Globes than the WTO next year. “Yeah, I don’t think we have much chance of that,” she says, laughing.
Working on “The Scoop” became a salvation for Hawes after several difficult roles. “I had done a couple of jobs that were a little challenging for one reason or another, and I thought I would have some free time,” she explains. «They sent me this and I thought, 'Even if this is a terrible experience, it won't last.' But actually it was wonderful, it restored my faith.”
Hawes most recently worked on the film Stonehouse, about Labor politician John Stonehouse, who unsuccessfully faked his own death in 1974, in which she co-starred with her husband, and the Canadian thriller Orphan Black: Echoes. She leaves us to guess which experience was more unpleasant.
After nearly a year away, Hawes says she felt «pretty clear about everything» and said yes to the trio of «Scoop,» «The Human Body» and «Miss Austen,» the story of Cassandra Austen, Jane's older sister, which airs on BBC later this year. They all passed the two tests she now administers before accepting any job: reading in the bath and her husband's approval. “We always read scripts to each other,” she says. “He has great taste. If it had questionable taste, I think it would be a real problem for us.”
The confidence to choose her roles comes from a 36-year career. Hawes shows me photos she recently found of when she first started acting professionally, when she was 12 years old. “You can see that I am a very serious actress here, I am completely absorbed in the work,” she says, laughing. The black-and-white photo shows a brightly lit child with a triangular face, completely unrecognizable as Hawes. «It's so funny — I look like Helena Bonham Carter when she played the Red Queen.»
Hawes has been acting since then 12 years old Photo: Charlotte Hadden
Hawes grew up in a council flat in London's Marylebone, the son of Brenda, a mother of four, and Tony, a taxi driver. She was seven when the Sylvia Young Theater School opened a new playground opposite her house: she took it as a sign. “He literally appeared in front of me,” she says.
“If this had not happened, I don’t know how I, being a working class child at the time, would have gotten into this job. I was offered a grant, and I was able to go, work and gain experience. From that moment on, everything continued, and I could not stop.”
Working with younger actors in Miss Austen and The Human Body made her reflect on her upbringing in the industry. “When I look at this photograph, I’m not sure what I was thinking about what this work could be,” she says. “Everything has changed so dramatically — protection measures have appeared that simply did not exist in the nineties. These young actors have a publicist and it's expensive for them, but it's great because they won't make such bad decisions. And if you do, then
it’s not your fault.”
Early in her career, Hawes worked as a fashion model and also regularly appeared in photo shoots to promote her acting projects. Looking back, she says it was «horrible.» “You now have guidance that I didn’t have when I started,” she explains. “The nineties were traumatic for women. You went to a photo shoot, and there was a whole row of underwear. You will not have a press representative. The BBC or whoever would send you a list of [promotional] events and you'd just go and have your picture taken at age 19 or whatever.
“All this time it was really… I don’t want to go into details,” she stops herself. “But watching Russell Brand's documentary [Dispatches — Russell Brand: In Plain Sight] just left me with a sense of intense personal trauma. I recognize a lot of this behavior but from a completely different perspective, and a lot of what happened to us was along the same lines and was so wrong, but we just accepted it. It was completely normal and what was expected.”
Hawes worked her way up from modeling and bit parts in music videos (she starred in Suede's Saturday Night, The Lightning Seeds' Marvelous, and several others). ) and for those roles that she really wanted — in Dennis Potter's Karaoke and Tamaru in The Avengers.
“We’ve been to different ends of the planet and raised three children, and it’s not easy,” he said. says Hawes about his marriage to Macfadyen. Photo: Charlotte Hadden
Wool jacket, £2,395, Huishan Zhang; white gold and diamond ring, £5,180, Tabayer
By the time she starred in Spooks in 2002 with Macfadyen, she was a 26-year veteran with 26 acting credits under her belt. She was also married to cartoonist Spencer McCallum and had a young son, Miles.
Macfadyen described the moment of meeting Hawes as «horrible because I realized I had fallen in love with her.» She separated from McCallum (they remained good friends), married Macfadyen and had two more children, Maggie and Ralph. This year is their 20th wedding anniversary and there is no big party planned; perhaps it would be nice to have a quiet dinner date.
“20 this year?” she's joking. “I think the secret is to keep going. I mean, obviously, don't continue if it's truly terrible. But we kept going. We spent a lot of time on opposite sides of the planet and raised three children, and this is not easy. It's hard, it takes a toll on you. You go through all this — working and trying to live.”
Children now range from their late teens to their 20s. She and Macfadyen did it: hooray for them. “You can't imagine them ever growing up and then suddenly coming out of the trenches,” she says, beaming. “My eldest son now works as a primary school teacher. I'm so ridiculously proud. He is truly amazing and doing something important in the world. They all fly off and do their own thing, and the best part is that they are really good people. We can look at them and say, «Ugh.»
Hawes is ready to share proud photos on his phone. Then she shows me her poodles wearing emerald bow ties, fresh from the groomer. When she and Macfadyen adopted their latest addition, Lulu, from Battersea, in December, a photo she posted on Instagram went viral. “Keeley Hawes reveals HUGE dog that looks like a teddy bear,” read one tabloid headline. “It was just the angle of the photo,” she explains, laughing. Buster, the excitable «big» brother, stood out in the frame. “He’s not a six-foot dog! He's miniature. But that's how these things become popular…»
Hawes says she likes «pretty classic clothes» and was in front row at London Fashion Week in February. Photo: Charlotte Hadden
Wool coat, £2,995, Roksanda; gold hoops, £1,425,886, from the Royal Mint; gold and diamond rings, from £2,200, both Tabayer.
As the children slowly move on, Hawes seems happy to fill the space with furry replacements. «I'm just obsessed,» she says. “Matthew became a big dog lover. He always said that he didn't need anything; now it is covered with dogs. They adore him, the way dogs tend to do when they think you don't trust them 100 percent.”
Hawes is easy to talk to and good at talking fashion. She looks very stylish in her high-waisted black Khaite trousers and Raey cardigan — the cashmere cascades casually to reveal her bare shoulder.
“I like clothes that are quite classic,” she says. “It actually took me a long time to just get happy and comfortable and settled, but that’s what I enjoy. I no longer worry about how to dress. I can get dressed and go, and it's really a revelation.»
Hawes has been working with stylist Anna Hughes-Chamberlain since 2022 and says the collaboration has given her confidence. “We didn’t have stylists before—you just have to Google photos of someone from 1990 to 2002 to see that. But actually, much later, I discovered that not having a stylist was too hard. I really like clothes, but a stylist will know what suits someone, will know what color carpet is at an event so you don't look like a floating head. That's all.»
In the front row at JW Anderson's latest show during London Fashion Week, Hawes sat next to the writer Zadie Smith, an old friend from her student days. Fashion is a circle she could dominate — if only she had time to go to shows. “It was heaven, I loved it,” she says. On the other hand, the red carpet of premieres and awards ceremonies is not her natural habitat, and she admits that she can feel «vulnerable.»
«It's hard to imagine people standing on the red carpet and smiling, feeling… vulnerable, but yes, this is a very strange and unnatural act. I'm just glad that the days of people putting crosses next to their clothes are over.”
In an industry full of fillers and facelifts, Howes' natural beauty stands out. “GD is no one's friend,” she says, “but I'd rather keep my face clean. I see an amazing facialist, Dr. David Jack, and get microneedling, laser for pigmentation, etc., and I'm really seeing results from it.”
She is a reformer Pilates — taking public classes with 19-year-olds and 80-year-olds. “I really like it,” she says. “I tried so many things; because I'm 48, I want to feel better and increase my endorphins, which is good for mental health. But until then, I hadn't found «the one.»
Her career versatility and longevity, she believes, depend on her natural aging. According to her, she would never have been able to play Mrs. Durrell if she had had her lips done. You won't see Inspector Lindsay Denton pouting.
“What's the worst thing that could happen if you go out without makeup?” she asks. «Women are beautiful.» She will leave the house without makeup, “and if you are scratched, you will be attacked in the comments. But you can't live your whole life worrying about comments, can you?”
Her tea had gone cold and she had only taken a few sips, but it was time to get back to rehearsal. “It completely distracted me from today’s performance,” she says. “This time my heart stopped.”
She reaches for her cashmere coat and heads towards the stage.
Scoop is now on Netflix.
Feature image details: Wool and mohair jacket, £3,400, cotton blouse, £1,100, and wool and silk trousers, £2,000 sterling, all from Dior. Calfskin loafers, £850, Church's. Gold and diamond earrings £7,200 and gold and diamond ring £5,180 (both Tabayer).
Style: Tone Stell. Stylist assistant: Alice Dench. Hair: Louis Byrne from Premier Hair and Make-up using L'Oréal Pro. Makeup: Kenneth So of The Wall Group using Ipsum and Merit Beauty. With thanks to JJ Studios
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