Dame Harriet Walter has been "face to face" with her own "chaos" amid the coronavirus lockdown.
The 69-year-old actress – who recently joined the cast of the spy thriller series ‘Killing Eve’ – has admitted to struggling to organise herself during the current lockdown.
She shared: "I know that’s the way people get through things: ‘Yoga in the morning, write my novel in the afternoon.’ I just can’t organise my life like that. So I’m sort of face to face with my own chaos."
Harriet has played a broad array of roles during her career on stage and screen.
And the veteran actress revealed she resents the expectation that female characters should always be likeable.
She told the Independent: "It’s so deeply ingrained in our behaviour to please people and be personable, but what’s great about things like ‘Killing Eve’ and ‘Succession’ is that you’re not really behaving for men, you’re behaving for yourself.
"I have in the past resisted a male take on female motivation. Male producers and writers have objectified a woman as their fantasy of what an awful woman is – a terrible mother-in-law or a wicked witch.
"But you’re playing the part and you’re inside their head and you find that doesn’t square with how you’re feeling about the character. So that can be quite painful."
Asked whether she notices a difference when she works with female writers and directors, Harriet replied: "I think I do, because a lot of the young women I’ve been working with have had to fight quite hard to get where they’ve got, and they know that being nice and sweet all the time doesn’t actually get you where you need to be.
"If you have talent and something you want to get out there, most of the women I’ve worked with have learnt they have to be a bit tough."
Dame Harriet Walter is ‘face-to-face with chaos’ amid lockdown
