Page 3 Profile: Keeley Hawes, Actress

Keeley Hawes (left) and Sheila Hancock in Barking in Essex at the Wyndhams Theatre (Alastair Muir)

She was great in ‘Spooks’ – what’s she up to now?

Until recently she was performing in the West End comedy Barking In Essex, about a bank robber who gets out of prison to find his family have squandered the proceeds of his crime. But the 37-year-old has mysteriously announced on Twitter that she was leaving the show.

Did she make a grand exit?

Her unexpected departure may have been the result of a feud with her co-star Sheila Hancock (pictured right with Hawes). According to The Mail on Sunday, Hancock “didn’t hit it off with Hawes, partly because Hawes hasn’t done much stage work before”. The source added: “It was a battle between two divas.”

Hancock, who plays Hawes’ mother-in-law in Clive Exton’s play, is said to have told the actress to project her voice. The source claimed: “She said some disparaging things such as, ‘This isn’t TV’.”

They say drama is conflict

Hmmm. Another source claims that in a final bitter row “there was some arm grabbing”.

Any word from the actors themselves?

They’re both keeping schtum – looks like we’ll have to rely on backstage gossip for the moment.

Can anyone fill her shoes?

The show finishes its run at Wyndham’s Theatre on Saturday, but until then the role is going to Hawes’ understudy, Rachel Marwood.