Beggar Bride Interview (1997)

FOR BETTER FOR NURSE; How to milk a great role.(Features)

The Mirror

August 23, 1997

By Steve Clark

The Beggar Bride (BBC1, Sunday and Monday, 9pm)

But the director of a new BBC drama had a very unusual request for actress Keeley Hawes.

In the two-part story The Beggar Bride Keeley had to breast-feed her screen baby in front of the cameras.

"It was very strange but it wasn't painful," she says.

"People say it's strange enough when it's your own child - this was a bottle-fed baby who hadn't been breast-fed before so it was very odd.

"The baby was fine and soon realised it wasn't going to get anything and it just stayed there."

Nine sets of twins were used during filming. "They were lovely but I won't be having one of my own for a while because I'm only 21," says Keeley.

The Beggar Bride tells the story of skint but beautiful young mum Ange Harper who decides to save her family from the poverty trap by bigamously marrying a rich industrialist in order to hit him for a massive divorce pay-out.

Everything runs smoothly until she discovers someone knows what she has done.

It was a great part for Keeley because she almost gets to play two roles.

"It's a fantastic part," she says. "But there were times when I couldn't remember whether I was Ange or Angela. It was very confusing!"

Keeley isn't sure if she's got more in common with working-class Ange or upmarket Angela. "My background is very normal," says Keeley. "We lived in a maisonette in London and my dad is taxi driver and my mum is a housewife.

"Then I went off and had elocution lessons at stage school and had friends whose parents had country mansions so I saw that other sort of life."

Among Keeley's stage school pals was Emma Bunting - better known as Baby Spice. "We met when we were ten and we were best friends for years," says Keeley. "I used to go camping with her and her mum and brother.

"She's done incredibly well. She was always into singing and dancing, whereas I was always more into acting. In fact, I used to do her drama course work for her!"

Keeley lives with her boyfriend, model agent Kelly, 27. And despite her stunning looks, she admits it's hard having a boyfriend who spends his days looking at beautiful women.

"He goes off to work and speaks to girls like Helena Christensen. But he's very reassuring about it all."