All Women Today Are Pioneers

Actress Helen McCrory talks to Charlotte Williamson about age holding no barriers, female solidarity and her new “fearless” TV role

- Charlotte Williamson

Helen McCrory enters the w&h studio in a head-turning outfit of top-to-toe tartan. It’s a sartorial homage to her Glaswegian father who’s staying with her, a mix of “Vivienne Westwood and Topshop; punk-rock Scottish.” She’s been up since 6am managing the kids and walking the dog, but you’d never guess. A veritable ball of energy, Helen can’t wait to see the clothes rail as, she explains, “I have three premieres coming up and might find something for the red carpet.”

This is an actress in demand. We’re here to talk about Fearless, the new ITV six-part political thriller written by Homeland writer and executive producer Patrick Harbinson in which Helen plays the lead, Emma Banville, a lawyer who defends lost causes. But she also has the romantic comedy Their Finest out soon, as well as Loving Vincent, an animated film telling the story of Vincent van Gogh. Plus, the fourth season of the hugely popular TV series Peaky Blinders is on the horizon.

The eldest of three siblings, Helen had a peripatetic childhood thanks to her diplomat father, growing up in Africa, Scandinavia and Paris. Despite only watching her first film at the age of nine, she became interested in acting as a teenager when she attended boarding school in England. She has since played everyone from Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter to Medea at the National Theatre.