‘When someone dies prematurely, you're left careering in a different direction’

They were the golden couple of British acting, but Helen McCrory’ death last year left Damian Lewis shattered. Now he is putting the pieces of himself back together and finding a new creative energy in music

- Simon Hattenstone

The entrance to the private members' club is so unobtrusive it is barely visible. I walk up the back stairs to a well-disguised roof terrace. A member of staff seems to know why I'm here and shows me to a discreet table with barely a word. Damian Lewis is sitting there alone, tucking into a plate of sea bass.

"Sorry, I couldn't wait," he says, looking up. "I was starving." We move on to the veranda - an even more private spot. I half expect him to show me a secret code, tell me to consign it to memory, and walk away. It feels like a scene from a spy novel.

Lewis has the urbane ease of a man to the establishment born - a diplomat, say, or an MI6 agent. In his latest drama, A Spy Among Friends, based on the Ben Macintyre novel, he plays the latter. The story is based on the real relationship between double agent Kim Philby (played by Guy Pearce) and M16 operative Nicholas Elliott (Lewis), the friend tasked with extracting a confession from him. This gripping miniseries is his first role since the death of his wife, Helen McCrory, last year. In that time, Lewis admits, his life has been given a thorough shaking. It feels as if I'm meeting a man putting himself back together and not quite sure how all the parts fit. He is still reeling from grief, while also embracing a new life, one that includes a surprise career change.