LINE Of Duty and Bodyguard star Keeley Hawes has gripped the nation in two of TV’s biggest action thrillers of recent years – but she hardly saw any action in either of them.
Now that is about to change in new thriller Crossfire, in which she plays an ex-cop who grabs a shotgun to battle an armed gang attacking a holiday resort.
Gun-toting Keeley Hawes in the heroic role in Crossfire after playing more passive characters in previous TV thrillers
She plays an ex-cop who grabs a shotgun to battle an armed gang attacking a holiday resort
Richard Madden as David Budd and Keeley Hawes as Julia Montague in the BBC1 drama, Bodyguard
Steve Arnott (Martin Compston), Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton (Keeley Hawes), Detective Constable Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) in Line of Duty
In the three-parter, starting tonight on BBC1 and continuing until Thursday, she flips the traditional telly drama dynamic of heroic men protecting vulnerable women.
Keeley, 46, said: “I’ve been asked, ‘How does this differ from other action-based pieces you’ve done?’
“Well, it’s the only one where I haven’t been passive. It’s quite a big thing. Bodyguard is an action thriller, but I wasn’t part of that action. That was very exciting and very telling about the way things have been.
“It shouldn’t be a novelty to have a 46-year-old woman playing this part, but it is. Hopefully that’s changing.”
In arguably her biggest hit, 2018’s Bodyguard, Keeley played Home Secretary Julia Montague, who had to be saved by hero cop David Budd, played by Richard Madden, when her car was targeted by a sniper.
And in 2014’s Line Of Duty, she was dodgy DI Lindsay Denton, who couldn’t even rely on the protection of Martin Compston’s DS Steve Arnott.
‘Messy individual’
But in Crossfire she plays Jo Cross, a married mum of three whose family take a holiday in the Canary Islands, where she suddenly has to recall her police training to combat a gang of armed men who attack their secluded hotel.
For once, Keeley’s character is the one who picks up a gun in a bid to protect her loved ones. But although the drama features violence, it isn’t a testosterone-fuelled action thriller.
Keeley admitted she can’t imagine herself showing the same bravery as Jo, adding: “It’s not about the guns or the gunmen.
“Anybody I’ve spoken to who has seen it, they don’t come away talking about those aspects of it.
“The question it poses is, ‘What would you do? Would you be a Jo or would you be a Keeley? How would you handle it?’ It’s the human side of things.”
In another departure from the usual drama rules, Jo is revealed as a complex character who is cheating on her husband Jason, played by another Line Of Duty actor, Lee Ingleby.
Keeley as Jo Cross with Anneika Rose as Abhi
The actress in a pool scene in the opening episode of Crossfire
Writer Louise Doughty, who also wrote 2017 BBC1 hit Apple Tree Yard, says she created her to be a “reprehensible” character, albeit one who tries to do the right thing in the crisis.
That only made the role more attractive for Keeley, whose many leading roles include such wholesome characters as Louisa Durrell in ITV’s The Durrells.
‘Brilliant journey’
She said of her latest character: “She’s not particularly likeable, but that’s interesting. Jo has this huge arc. She goes through an awful lot over the course of these three episodes so it’s a brilliant journey to take as an actor.
“She’s a messy individual, and I went from liking her and finding her quite endearing, thinking she’s really interesting, quite complex, quite confused, to thinking, ‘God, I’m not sure I do like her’.
“She’s not straight-forward. It threw up lots of questions for me and really made me think about her. That was really appealing.”
Crossfire, which was filmed in scorching-hot Tenerife, was also a departure for Keeley in terms of wardrobe.
In place of the slick outfits we’ve seen her wear in previous dramas, she would often have to be in the same ragged, sweat-soaked clothes for days on end.
She said: “It’s the only shoot where I’ve woken up in the morning, gone to my wardrobe, put the clothes on in the wardrobe and gone straight out to work.
“Then I’ve done a day’s work and put them back in the wardrobe. Very occasionally, I was given a fresh set.”
As well as her character’s affair, there is also tension between Jo and Jason because she had to give up her job as a cop to become a mother.
Keeley, who is married to Emmy-winning Succession actor Matthew Macfadyen, said: “She has lived this other life and when we meet her, she has decided she wants to go back into the force.
“She has made the decision and it is a matter of breaking it to her husband that it’s what she wants to do. You know, it’s not easy for her to go back to work because of childcare. Two of her children are still quite young, so it’s a big decision to make.
“It’s also a big decision to make because she left [the police] having failed an exam, which knocked her confidence at the time, as it was really hard for a woman in the force.”
Taking the lead role in the drama was just the start of Keeley’s commitment to the project. It is a co-production with her company, Buddy Club, and she is one of the executive producers.
It also required a level of sacrifice which, as a mother of three herself, was challenging for Keeley. As it was filmed while lockdown restrictions were still in place, the cast and crew had to spend weeks away from home filming, and visits from family were banned.
Covid meant they also had to seal themselves into the hotel where Crossfire was filmed, which meant they were trying to unwind in the same spaces where they might have been filming gory, traumatic scenes just hours earlier.
Keeley even ended up sleeping in the room where Jo and Jason’s bedroom scenes were filmed. But she is loath to complain about any of the inconveniences of making the drama, particularly given that it took place during the pandemic.
She said: “Talking about the problems with the shoot with everything going on in the world, it feels quite tricky in the grand scheme of things.”
Keeley also told how the project had its surreal moments. Many of the hotel’s paying guests were unaware the filming was taking place, and would look up from their sun loungers to see armed men in special forces uniforms dripping with blood.
In the same resort a German film crew were making a “prehistoric sci-fi” epic, so occasionally a caveman in sackcloth would also wander past the pool and into the buffet.
And back in her hotel room after each day’s filming of the drama’s harrowing scenes, Keeley found an unlikely emotional release.
She said: “I watched The One Show quite a lot. There was a lot of sobbing at The One Show.
“It was the most moving television I’ve ever seen in my life. I’d just start crying. And The Repair Shop, it was those sorts of things.
“When I got in, it was about all I could take — it was so heartwarming.”
- Crossfire starts tonight on BBC1 at 9pm and continues tomorrow and Thursday.
Keeley said of her latest character: ‘She’s not particularly likeable, but that’s interesting’ – pictured with Anneika Rose and Josette Simon as Miriam
Jo is revealed as a complex character who is cheating on her husband Jason, played by Line Of Duty actor Lee Ingleby
Keeley Hawes at the British Academy Television Awards
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