Hurley whirligig: me, Liz and a marathon movie week

Adam White spent seven days watching all 28 of Elizabeth Hurley's films, so you don't have to, from the one where she murders Patsy Kensit to the erotic thriller her son directed

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A few weeks ago, a colleague asked me to explain Elizabeth Hurley. This was a question from someone younger, which made it a trickier task than most. Well, I said, she’s Hugh Grant’s ex – before I realised that’s probably a bit demeaning as a descriptor.

She’s an actor, too, I added. Or was an actor. I suppose she still is - perhaps they remembered all those headlines last year about her son directing her in a saucy thriller?

I could have brought up Austin Powers and Bedazzled. Or that safety pin dress. Or the fact that she’s so outrageously posh that when her mouth opens, the crown jewels seem to fly out.

Instead, I admitted that I couldn’t adequately explain Elizabeth Hurley. Over the course of her 30 years of fame, Hurley’s most important role has simply been being Elizabeth Hurley, plummy super-goddess seamlessly transplanted into every facet of the celebrity ecosystem. This, my by-now-weary colleague told me, didn’t exactly help.

The question kept nagging at me. Who is Elizabeth Hurley? Is she just bikini selfies and forgettable cinema? Brexit voting and underwear entrepreneurialism? Is she always Elizabeth Hurley, even when she’s playing someone else? Her new Channel 4 reality show makes a good case for that theory. The Inheritance is more or less The Traitors with Elizabeth Hurley, the star appearing in campy, occasionally coffin-bound cameos as a woman known only as The Deceased, whose “vast fortune” is fought over by 13 contestants. She’s dead, but she’s also still Elizabeth Hurley - complete with a tasteful smoky eye, bizarre accent, and glowy decolletage at the ready.