STARRING IN 'FUNNY WOMAN' WITH HUSBAND RORY KEENAN GEMMA ARTERTON ON LEARNING TO TRUST HER INTUITION AND THE CHALLENGES OF HAVING HER BABY ON SET

Rocking a brunette bob as she sits down to chat to HELLO! about season two of her hit Sky comedy drama Funny Woman, Gemma Arterton looks completely different from her blonde 1960s alter ego Sophie Straw - so much so that she worried her baby son wouldn't recognise her on set.

"It was my first job [after giving birth], and he was ten months old," she tells us. "I dye my hair blonde in this season, and I brought my family up to Liverpool, where we shoot the show. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was convinced he didn't recognise me.

"He'd come on set and see me for an hour, and I'd be dressed up as Sophie. I just don't look like myself when I'm playing Sophie, with the costumes and the hair and make-up, and I was convinced that he didn't know I was his mum. I found it quite hard.

"The good thing about this job is that it's intense when you're filming for three or four months and then you might have months off where you can just be with your child.

"It was hard not to not be with him, but it was okay. He's forgiven me - he recognises me now."

FAMILY AFFAIR

Fortunately, Gemma, 38, had her husband, actor Rory Keenan, 44, on hand to help: he also appears in season two, as villainous presenter Vernon Whitfield.