Inside Red Eye star Lesley Sharp’s life off screen: Actress was adopted as a baby, had a bizarre brush with the police and close friendship with the late actress Helen McCrory

As ITV’s brand new thriller series Red Eye kicks off tonight, Lesley Sharp stars as Director General of MI5, Madeline Delaney.

Manchester-born Lesley, 64, is known for her critically acclaimed roles in Scott and Bailey, Before We Die and Afterlife – but her off-life screen is just as interesting, from her adoption as a baby to a bizarre run-in with the police.

The BAFTA nominee also played villain Rosalind Hale in the Netflix series Fate: The Winx Saga, and has often starred alongside Hollywood A-listers including Vera Drake with Imelda Staunton and Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect.

Now the actress returns in a stellar role for the nail-biting six-part crime show, joining leading actors Richard Armitage (Fool Me Once) and Jing Lusi (Crazy Rich Asians).

The plot follows Dr. Matthew Nolan (Richard), a British surgeon who is arrested at Heathrow Airport after returning from a medical conference in China.

He came alarmingly close to death in a car crash in Beijing before boarding his flight, and Chinese authorities are pressing for his immediate arrest and extradition as they claim a female passenger died in his car, but he insists he was alone.

London detective Hana Li (Jing) has been assigned to escort Dr. Nolan immediately back to Beijing on an overnight flight, but when passengers begin dying on board, she realizes that Nolan’s life is in danger and that there is an international conspiracy is coming.

At the start of the series, MailOnline takes a look at the actress’s life off-screen.

EARLY LIFE

Full Monty’s favorite was adopted when she was just six weeks old.

Lesley’s adoptive mother tragically passed away when she was 15. She had a strong bond with her adoptive father. The Telegraph “He was extremely proud and supportive in a calm, hands-off way.”

Talking about her mother, she explained, “I wish I had really known her! You know when you get those questions: Who would you have had at your fantasy dinner party? Absolutely, my mother.’

But the grief she went through gave her a purpose to start her acting journey after found an outlet in a local drama club.

She told how the drama coach noticed at the time that she was having difficulty processing her grief and ‘without being too sympathetic, without asking too much about those kinds of things, she saw what a relief it was for me to be there on Wednesday evenings. to come by. ‘

BIZARRE BRUSH WITH THE POLICE

Previously spoken to The guardthe paranoid feeling occurred when she thought she had discovered a body outside her London flat.

‘When I was living in a flat in Herne Hill, London, I saw a body hanging over the landing of the flat above and thought someone had committed suicide, so I called the police. They found a wetsuit that someone had hung up to dry.”

LOVE OF WILD SWIMMING

In addition to her incredible acting skills, Lesley is also an accomplished swimmer.

Chat with Coastal magazineshe explained that swimming is a source of relaxation for her, leaving fans stunned when she admitted to also swimming wildly in the Thames.

‘Although I now live in London, I have always felt strongly that I should be able to get to a piece of water.

‘I even swam in the Thames, at Lechlade, because I love whitewater swimming. And I think being able to swim in the sea as part of a holiday is essential.’

Close bond with HELEN MCCRORY

Lesley had a close friendship with the late Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory, who passed away from cancer on April 16, 2021.

The acting pair first met while filming early 2000s drama Carla in Greece, when Lesley revealed the pair bought matching bracelets at the time, and the late star messaged her for her birthday shortly before her death .

“I just thought she was a great actress – she was brilliant and very funny – a super smart woman,” she said The Telegraph.

“She texted me on my birthday this year (2021) and said, ‘Happy birthday, happy birthday sweet girl, I’m wearing this bracelet today thinking of you’ and the rest.

“So I texted back and said, you know, great, great to hear from you. I will wear my bracelet…’

NORTHERN DNA

The Priest actress left the North West for London in search of a successful career when she was just 18, but insisted she had ‘quintessential northern DNA’.

‘I consider myself very much a Mancunian. There is something typically northern in my DNA, even though I have lived in London since I was 18. I think it’s a sense of humor and a desire to be kind.”

Lesley is married to husband and fellow actor Nicholas Gleaves after they tied the knot in 1994. The couple share two sons Zachary, 30, and Gabriel, 26.

Lesley also talked about how easily she goes incognito when she steps into London, despite being so recognizable on screen.

“I’m in the supermarket and they say, ‘Are you the woman who goes to the gym with my sister?’ And I’ll say, ‘I don’t know. Probably,” she said The guard.

You can choose to draw or distract attention in your life. I’m very happy to do my work and then slip into my private life.’

Red Eye is written by Peter A Dowling, who knows about nerve-wracking plane travel and made the hit 2005 film Flightplan starring Jodie Foster, about a girl who goes missing during a transatlantic flight.

Peter had then written a submarine-based thriller for ITV, but it was canceled when BBC1 posted them with the 2021 Vigil, so ITV and Peter moved their drama to air.

“Red Eye is like a modern-day Agatha Christie, because you’re trapped in a confined space and people are dying,” says Peter, a Brit living in the US.

“You’ll think, ‘How can anyone get away with this?’ In that environment the killer must still be there. You know if you want to catch the killer, you have until the plane lands… so the clock is ticking.”

Red Eye starts on Sunday evening, April 21 at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.