‘I love being a naughty child'

Dame Harriet Walter on playing a sporty mentor to sparky assassin Villanelle

- VICTORIA WILSON

KILLING EVE

SUN / BBC1 / 9.15PM / EP 7 of 8 / & FROM MON 1 JUNE / BBC iPLAYER / EP 8 of 8 / DRAMA

Given she was last on our screens as Belgravia’s buttoned-up Countess of Brockenhurst, Dame Harriet Walter’s transformation into Russian gymnast-turned-hitwoman Dasha in BBC thriller Killing Eve is all the more remarkable.

Steely, yet playful, Dasha – ‘She was the KGB’s top assassin,’ according to MI6’s Carolyn (played by Fiona Shaw) – taught Villanelle (Jodie Comer) all she knows. But when episode seven of season three airs on BBC1 this Sunday (the eighth and final episode launches on BBC iPlayer from Monday 1 June), we find Villanelle’s loyalty to her longtime mentor severely tested as they team up on a new assignment from The Twelve, the secret organisation that employs killers.

Here, the always-lovely Dame Harriet, 69, chats to TV Times about why she’s relishing the role...

What appealed to you most about playing Dasha?