It's fun being a perimenopausal James Bond...

Keeley Hawes is killing it as The Assassin

- BY NICOLA METHVEN TV Editor

KEELEY Hawes said she loved getting hands-on as an action hero in her upcoming series, The Assassin.

The star calls her character Julie "a perimenopausal James Bond" who is finding her way with her estranged son Edward, played by Freddie Highmore.

She said: "I loved playing her and I loved the stunty stuff, too.

"You get good stunt people and they make you look great.

"But I really did throw that man over that car."

Saying she had taken a leaf out of Tom Cruise's book, Keeley added she did "as much as I was allowed" when it came to the action scenes.

She explained: "It was great fun and she's not the coolest assassin in the world, she's a great character in her own right.

"That part of her is almost an aside. It's a nice surprise."

The stunts for the Prime series included roughhousing, diving into the sea and riding a motorbike.