Keeley Hawes has played lonely loser Lindsay Denton in Line of Duty, a mum of four in The Durrells, and a grieving widow whose husband died in Finding Alice. But her real life has been arguably just as eventful.
The popular actress is currently starring as Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra in BBC One’s Miss Austen, and is famous for her roles in a string of hit TV shows including The Missing, Bodyguard, Honour and It’s a Sin.
But it was on the set of Spooks that her life changed forever. Keeley Hawes fell in love with another man at work while already newly married to her husband – throwing her life into turmoil.
But is Keeley Hawes still married, and what happened with her first husband? Here’s everything you need to know.
What is Keeley Hawes most famous for? What’s she been in?
Keeley Hawes is undoubtedly one of the UK’s most bankable TV stars. The popular actress has been on our screens ever since 1989, when she first appeared as Carol in the TV series Forever Green. Although it was a small part in one episode, Keeley’s career would soon be on the rise.
After playing Mandy Harper in Troublemakers, Linda Langer in Karaoke, Stella Jackson in Pie in the Sky, and Angela Harper in The Beggar Bride, she won the role which helped catapult her into the mainstream. In 1998, she played the lead role of Lizzie Hexam in Our Mutual Friend.
She went on to play Diana Dors in The Blonde Bombshell, Cynthia in Wives and Daughters, and then, of course, Kitty Butler in Tipping the Velvet. Who could forget Keeley’s performance in the 2002 BBC drama based on Sarah Waters’ book of the same name? At the time, the series was considered quite sexually explicit, and featured same-sex love scenes.
Was Keeley in Spooks?
That same year, Keeley won the role of Zoe Reynolds in Spooks, a role she played for two years. She later won over audiences when she played DI Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes between 2008 and 2010.
In 2010, she played the leading role of Lady Agnes Holland in the 2010 revival of Upstairs, Downstairs. She then portrayed a bereaved parent in 2016’s The Missing.
Her role as a matriarch in ITV comedy-drama The Durrells was also a hit with viewers. Of course, Line of Duty fans will know Keeley as DI Lindsay Denton.
Other notable roles include Julia Montague in Bodyguard, Ms Delphox in the eighth series of Doctor Who, and Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Goode in ITV’s Honour.
More recently, Keeley has played the titular character in Finding Alice, Susannah Zellaby in The Midwich Cuckoos, Jo in Crossfire, and Barbara Stonehouse in Stonehouse, opposite her real life husband Matthew Macfadyen.
In 2024, Keeley starred as Amanda Thirsk in the Netflix film Scoop. Amanda was the publicist of Prince Andrew during a, let’s say, a rather tricky time. The movie showed how the BBC obtained the bombshell interview with Prince Andrew about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Billie Piper, Rufus Sewell, and Gillian Anderson also starred.
Now, she’s on screen in Miss Austen. It’’’
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