Olivia Colman: ‘Portraying a murderer? It was less pressure than playing the Queen’

From supporting parts on TV to Hollywood stardom to her darkest role yet: the Oscar winner reveals why even the toughest jobs can't compare to her role in The Crown

Olivia Colman's husband has written his first TV drama, a true crime series starring his wife, and I have so many questions about this that she says she can bring him downstairs to join in if I like. Ah, the possibilities when interviewing someone over Zoom. Eddy!" she shouts up the stairs, while I peer into their comfy sitting room, somewhere deep in the English countryside (period fireplace, bookshelves). I'm slagging you off!" she shouts with glee at him, followed by a distant grunt.

We carry on alone, accompanied only by one of their dogs, the excitable Alfred, Lord Waggyson, and a child who briefly pops into the room to a big grin from mum. Colman, blessed with the friendliest, giggliest face on British telly, familiar from so many hit shows, somehow feels as if she belongs in my home, as if we are already friends. This, as we will find out, is something of a problem now she's an international megastar.