KEIRA FIGHTLEY

The Love Actually actor is back on TV for the first time in 20 years with a festive drama for the kind of folk who love Die Hard

- SALLY MCLEAN

WHEN Keira Knightley took on a part in Netflix's new spy drama she reckoned it sounded like an easy job and was filming near her home.

The Love Actually star, who plays the bored wife of a Tory MP who is also a secret undercover agent, mistakenly thought her co-star Ben Whishaw would have to take on all the physical hard graft and stunts in Black Doves.

Ben, the voice of Paddington Bear, plays an assassin in the series.

Instead, Pirates of the Carribean actor Keira found herself doing boxing and ju-jitsu classes, learning how to handle a gun and spending her days murdering people with her sidekick.

Keira, 39, said: "I loved working with Ben. I thought, because he is playing the assassin, I would mostly be looking all spy-like while he did most of the shooting and killing but I then found it would be me doing pretty much all the shooting, killing and everything else.

"I thought it was going to be an easy job, filming near home and then suddenly there I was fighting all day.

But I actually loved it. I had about a month before we started filming to train. I did ju-jitsu, boxing, knife-fighting and I did gun training.

"What you learn is that fight scenes are just like choreographed dances. You learn the basic movements and then the stunt team would work you through the choreography."

Black Doves, written by Joe Barton, is one of the most anticipated shows of the year but it's Keira's first television series in 20 years.