'I was convinced my son didn't recognise me

Actress Gemma Arterton chats about changing her look for the second series of the comedy-drama Funny Woman and bringing her family along while filming the new season

- JO BERRY

She's starred in everything from Bond to Shakespeare, but Gemma Arterton's greatest role is being a mum to her 20-month-old son.

Gemma, 38, who is married to Peaky Blinders actor Rory Keenan, is so besotted with her baby boy, she took him with her when she filmed the second series of her hit Sky comedy-drama Funny Woman.

It was Gemma's first part since becoming a mum and even though her son was always by her side, she still fretted over how he would find filming.

"He was 10 months old," she says. "I brought my family up to Liverpool where we shot the show," she adds. "So he was with me. I dyed my hair blonde this season and, it sounds ridiculous, but I was convinced he didn't recognise me! He'd see me for an hour or something a day, I'd be dressed as Sophie and I just don't look like myself when I'm playing her with the costumes and the hair and make-up - so I was convinced that he didn't know I was his mum. I found that quite hard."

Days on set are long, but when Gemma's not working, she's free to devote all her time to being a parent.

"It is what it is, though," she says. "The good thing about this job is that it's intense when you're filming for three or four months, but then you might have months off where you can just be with your child. It was hard not to be with him but it's OK. He's forgiven me. He recognises me."

In Funny Woman, which is set in the swinging 60s, Gemma plays Sophie Straw, a former Blackpool beauty queen-turned-comedy star who is juggling her TV career with her complicated personal life.

As well as having her little boy on set, Gemma was also joined by her husband Rory, who appears as Vernon Whitfield, the archenemy of Dennis Mahindra (Arsher Ali), the married man who Sophie is in love with.