Mimi Keene’s dog and cat are pestering her on her couch, annoyed that she’s paying attention to her laptop, but she seems to be in her happy place, saying, “I’m not very adventurous, I’m a home bird.”
Yet the former Sex Education actor –playing one-liner spouting nice mean girl, Ruth - is now on an upwards trajectory that will doubtless see her travelling the world. In the quality new Agatha Christie BBC adaptation, Towards Zero, she is a revelation as gold digging femme fatale (or is she?) Kay and, elegant in period costume, shows true leading lady star quality.
Not that this down-to-earth actor, originally from South Woodford, seems affected by it. She has pets to care for.
“I was lucky in that I got to take my dogs with me to Devon,” she says of the shoot, “We shot it on the island where Agatha Christie set the story, which really helped. It was full immersion.”
She was also fully immersed in water for one love scene with Oliver Jackson-Cohen, who plays her hubby, tennis star Nevile Strange.
“It’s so much worse going into the sea in your clothes,” she winces, “I'm wearing a silk dress, and we wanted a sexy vibe of getting in water but it was the least sexy vibe I could ever imagined. I feel like we've really brought it across on the camera but I don't know how. I was shivering.
But Ollie picked me up really quickly. And then after we cut, he even carried me all the way back to shore. That is my favourite thing that's ever happened to me as an actor.”
The show itself pitches the newly married couple on the remote island with a group including Strange’s ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) and matriarch Lady Tressilian, played by Hollywood legend Angelica Huston. Obviously someone dies. Keene also had real-life palpitations before acting with Huston.
“There was air of anticipation for her coming in,” says Keene, “Then before I went to do my scene before I met her, and she was so lovely. In our scene she was in bed, which was strange, and I was staring at Angelica Houston, pinching myself. But as soon as we got going, she was obviously amazing and she definitely made me better. I will never forget doing that.
As for what’s next, she has dreams of working at the studios near her house so she can stay at home, but recognises life is changing and is just back from a shoot in Africa.
“I never wanted to be an actor growing up,” she say, “I’m a large family, and I didn’t get into the grammar school like all my siblings did. I liked school but hated tests. But I probably was naturally good as actor and I auditioned for stage schools and got in them all. It’s all a happy accident. I always try to remember that when things don't work out, it could be leading you to the best thing ever.”
Towards Zero is on BBC1 and iPlayer now
