Helen McCrory on Fearless, Peaky Blinders and juggling family life with husband Damien Lewis

Helen McCrory has a string of powerful characters under her belt, but now it’s time for her to take on the establishment in new drama ‘Fearless’. The actress tells James Rampton why she refuses to accept that society is inherently selfish

McCrory stars as a human rights lawyer in the legal thriller (ITV)

When he was interviewing politicians on BBC2’s Newsnight, it was often said that the presenter Jeremy Paxman lived by the old journalistic motto: “Why is this lying bastard lying to me?”

That is also the credo adopted by Emma Banville, the central character in Fearless, ITV’s absorbing new six-part legal thriller. Played with characteristic panache and passion by the actress Helen McCrory, Emma is a human rights lawyer whose speciality is defending lost causes. Her whole career has been based on questioning the powers that be and refusing to accept the official line.

According to Patrick Harbinson, the creator of the series, (who also worked with McCrory’s husband Damian Lewis on Homeland), the character is inspired by the work of lawyers like Gareth Peirce and Helena Kennedy.

In Fearless, which begins on 12 June, Emma’s defiant attitude comes to a head when she sets out to clear the name of a man convicted of murder 14 years previously. Convinced that he has been the victim of a miscarriage of justice, the idealistic lawyer takes drastic measures to prove his innocence.

But as she delves into the background of the case, Emma becomes aware of sinister forces within the police and intelligence services that could jeopardise her professional and personal life.

And yet despite these threats, Emma will not be cowed. She remains a fully paid up member of the awkward squad. In McCrory’s eyes, such tough, independent-minded people play a vital role in our society.

The Independent is chatting to the actress, who has been acclaimed for her work in everything from Hugo and Penny Dreadful to Peaky Blinders and the final three Harry Potter films, in an ITV boardroom at a gigantic wooden table that would not look out of place on The Apprentice.

Known for her dedication to her work – she won the Critics’ Circle Best Actress Award in 2015 for her blazingly intense performance as Medea – McCrory is far more light-hearted in real life.

Looking slim and a decade younger than her 48 years, McCrory is dressed in a brown silk shirt and black trousers. She has a winning sense of humour. For instance, she develops an elaborate and long-running gag during our interview that I may well possess a secret, cross-dressing alter ego who goes by the name of Hallelujah Bangkok.

On top of it: McCrory in ‘Peaky Blinders’ (BBC)

The actress, who has two young children with Lewis, goes on to joke that the canapés we have been offered during our interview are not nearly sophisticated enough. “I want oysters that speak to you in several languages before you eat them,” she laughs.

But McCrory also has the knack of providing serious and thoughtful analysis of her work. She is certainly impassioned in her defence of civil rights campaigners such as Emma. “It’s absolutely right that you question the establishment – that’s the whole point of our democracy.

“Britain has always, always applauded that. In no other country do people get OBEs for criticising the establishment. We celebrate that in Britain because we know that it makes us one of the greatest democracies in the world.”

It is that sort of crusading approach which marks Emma out. Her courageous pursuit of the truth is also pertinent in an age where we have to be constantly suspicious of being fed “fake news” and “alternative facts”.

“Emma risks everything – her career and her house – in order to find the truth,” McCrory continues. “She has a fundamental distrust of the party line. She’s always questioning and refusing to take things at face value. If you believe everything that you’re told, that can be very dangerous.

“Last night, for example, Google had to take down a story that everyone thought was true, but was actually fake news. Emma questions everything, and that’s absolutely in tune with the zeitgeist. It chimes with what’s going on now right across the world.”

Powerhouse: McCrory played Cherie Blair in ‘The Queen’ with Michael Sheen as the former PM (Rex) (Rex Features)

The actress, who has also won awards for her stage work in The Last of the Haussmans and Macbeth, believes that the character of Emma reflects a very laudable, and often underrated side of our society. “Of course, there are extraordinary people like the human rights lawyers Gareth Peirce and Michael Mansfield. Many investigative journalists do something similar to counterbalance the establishment.

“But even if we’re not that extraordinary, I think people do that in their daily lives. People are fearless. They do things for others. They walk into overcrowded inner city classrooms where some children have behavioural problems every morning and just keep going.”

McCrory, who played Cherie Blair in both The Queen and The Special Relationship, adds that, “There is a positivity about Fearless because it’s about people who put something back into society. There is this widespread idea that everyone is out for themselves, but that’s simply not true. I don’t think that’s the normal human condition.

“We are lied to. We are told we’re selfish and only interested in money and the way we look, but I think that is wrong. They’re not the people that surround me or the people I meet in the street.”

What the individualistic Emma also represents is a reaction against the homogenisation of our culture. “I think there’s a huge backlash against that, and Emma is part of it,” McCrory observes. “She’s a lone wolf.

“She doesn’t feel she is part of some enormous tribe or great movement. She doesn’t want to be like everybody else. She’s trying to make life worth something more than her own petty problems. But that costs her hugely. She has to make immense sacrifices.”

Magic performance: the actress as Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter series (Warner Bros) (Courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures)

McCrory and her husband are two of the busiest and most successful actors in the country. So how do they organise their lives and make sure their household runs smoothly? “We do everything very badly!” laughs the actress.

“I don’t know how we juggle. There is a lot of unsexy diary time. We’re constantly organising things. That’s why I never get to watch anything on TV! I’m continually trying to work out what we’re doing tomorrow and if the kids are now old enough to drive themselves to school!”

She carries on that, “Every night we just shout, ‘Everyone alive? Yes? Lights out!’ But that’s OK. We have definitely established I’m not a perfectionist, but that’s the only way to do it. It’s chaos, but it’s happy chaos.”

Next up, McCrory is reprising her role as the steely Polly in Peaky Blinders, Steven Knight’s beautifully made BBC drama about the Shelby crime family in 1920’s Birmingham. “It’s really struck a chord,” the actress affirms.

“It does what the Americans have always done so well and we usually never do: it romanticises the past. We are normally very apologetic about the past. Steven turns the working man into a hero – not just any hero, but a hero filmed by John Ford.”

So what is coming up on the horizon for this most charismatic actress? She has already starred as a government minister in one Bond film, Skyfall. Could McCrory ever envisage moving into the lead role and picking up 007’s martini, shaken not stirred? “Yes, absolutely! Why not? Why not?

“It’s time for a female Bond!”

Don’t bet against her!

‘Fearless’ starts on ITV at 9pm on Monday 12 June