The BBC's latest historical drama has been a roaring success, captivating viewers with its period charm. Starring actress Keeley Hawes, the series explores the life of Jane Austen's sister Cassandra.
With critics and fans praising the new series, Keeley, 49, has once again found herself in the spotlight. While Keeley may be best known for roles in Line of Duty, Bodyguard, and The Durrells, her husband is none other than Matthew Macfadyen - yes, the same Matthew Macfadyen who in the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, opposite Keira Knightley.
His rain-soaked confession of love remains one of cinema's most iconic romance moments, and now in a new , Keeley has given fans an unique and refreshingly honest insight into their marriage.
And from the sounds of it, she's just as lucky as Lizzie Bennet herself.
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Because despite being the star of Succession, Matthew, 50, is quite the gentleman around the house - as he cooks for Keeley every single night.
Keeley reveals: "Matthew wakes up in the morning and the first thing out of his mouth will be ‘What should we have for dinner tonight?’ At like seven o'clock in the morning. I'm like, 'I don't know. I don't care!'".
Meanwhile, Keeley couldn't be less interested in cooking thanks to growing up in the 80s when the microwave became a staple for households. "Cooking wasn’t a thing, was it?," she tells the Dish from podcast with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett MBE. "The microwave was a big sexy new thing in the kitchen. Ready meals. So, it was a bad time really, that formative period."
As a result, her diet typically consists of tuna, cheese, and other easily assembled meals. Though she admits to not being the best at cooking, she did pretend to be a pro-chef at the start of their relationship.
"He was like, ‘Yeah, I like cooking,’ I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, so do I.’ I pretended to cook him something like a lamb goulash or something. I just went and got this thing and heated it up, and then threw some things around the kitchen and turned the lights down really low."
The couple married in 2004 and went on to have two children - Maggie and Ralph. Keeley also has a son from her previous marriage, Myles McCallum.
Despite being a three-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, Keeley reveals her career is a stroke of luck. Growing up in the affluent borough of Marylebone in central London, Keeley was encouraged to join a drama school by her primary school teacher following their production of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
“My teacher at my primary school said to my parents, ‘she really loves it’,” she says. She started attending a drama school that happened to move near her childhood home. “I could hear them sort of singing and saw the sign up outside and said, actually, I’d like to go there," she says. "And I auditioned and I was helped with a grant, and I went. It was kind of geography. It really was just a stroke of luck.”
From there, she went on to train as a child actor, appearing in TV shows, theatre productions, and commercials before breaking into major roles as an adult. Her career took off with Karaoke, where she starred alongside Richard E Grant, who she fondly remembers for his kindness.
While she may be playing a pivotal figure in the Austen universe right now, off-screen, Keeley has found her own happily ever after with a very famous Mr Darcy by her side.
Dish from Waitrose is available on all podcast providers.
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