At home with Tomb Raider's Lara Croft: 'There was probably too much murder'

It's been 20 years since original Tomb Raider. But who is the woman behind the legend? Ellie Gibson visited the famed archeologist in her Surrey mansion to find out

She's famous around the globe for her archaeological exploits, elegant acrobatics, and ability to take down a T rex at 20 paces. But who is the real Lara Croft? I have come to her sprawling manor home in rural Surrey to find out.

This is, after all, the British icon who has spent the last 20 years battling wolves, giant snakes and unsupportive vest tops. Now, as I watch Lara standing at the kitchen counter, wrestling with a small foil pod, one thing becomes clear: she is not a woman who can work a Nespresso machine. "Oh bollocks," she says, in that familiar cut-glass accent, as coffee granules spray across the polished granite. She hurls the empty pod in the sink, whips out the pistols she keeps strapped to each thigh, and blasts the machine with both barrels. She then pops the guns neatly back in their holsters and turns, raising an eyebrow in her trademark style. "Tea?"