KEIRA KNIGHTLEY GLAMOROUS OPERATIVE

The British star on her real-life alter ego and motherhood as she intrigues in new spy thriller

- GILL PRINGLE

Keira Knightley would argue that all mothers lead double lives, albeit not to quite the same extent as her current incarnation as a spy masquerading as a mum and politician’s wife.

In new Netflix espionage series Black Doves, the 39-year-old plays Helen Webb, the quickwitted, down-to-earth wife of a politically ambitious defence chief – but nobody would guess that she’s also a ruthless killer, regularly sharing her husband’s secrets with a shadowy organisation.

“She incorporates so many personalities within herself and I felt as though they were all true, and I felt that in a small way, I understand that – because you’re always looking for a character to understand in your own life,” Keira says. “I think what I understood is: I’m a mother. My identity as a mother and who I am to my kids is obviously very different from who I am in different spaces.

“You know, we’re one way to our children. We get into work and we’re a completely different way,” says Keira, who has two young daughters with her husband, musician James Righton. “Maybe we have a hedonistic side to us, which you would never show to your kids.

“And Helen is that – it’s just in a really, really extreme way. Her other self happens to be murderous and selling her husband’s secrets.”