HOWZAT

Of course she would.

She orders a salad for herself, recommends I try the Arbroath smokie, frisée and horseradish, and I ask whether there’s anything other than gut instinct that dictates which roles she chooses to play. “Yeah, money.” She giggles. “When you’ve got children and you live in the capital city, you can’t say, right, I’m doing a play now. I’d like to do more theatre. I’ve only ever done two plays in London.”

She adds that a diversity of roles is also important, and is pleased that, in recent months, she has been seen playing everyone from Myra Hindley (Longford) to Mary Queen of Scots (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and Deborah Curtis (Control). “I try not to repeat myself.”

I suggest that, despite the range of performances, something seems to link the roles: not only does she invariably play them all brilliantly, but they’re the kind of characters you wouldn’t see Keira Knightley playing. The remark goes down as badly as my last few attempts at meals.

“I think people need to stop being rude about her, I really do.” She picks up her coffee.

“Hold on, weren’t you horrible about her recently?” (Actually, she wasn’t.)

She puts the cup back down without having taken a sip. “I’m never horrible about women in the industry.”

“You were horrible about Liz Hurley.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You said, ‘She’s not an actress. I wouldn’t think she’d do street theatre in Poland, would you? Do you really think she loves her craft? No.’”

“I was misquoted. I like Liz Hurley. I’d like to see a little more camaraderie in the film industry actually, especially in Britain.”

The claim clashes so violently with quotations ascribed to her in newspaper cuttings that there’s a lengthy pause before I work out what to say. “What about Tim Robbins? You had a right go at him.”

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