My evenings are quite traditional in many ways. My children [Myles, Ralph and Maggie] are all still at home so my average evening revolves around feeding them, organising them and making sure what they’re doing. We’re very organised and tidy: I have to have a word with myself sometimes about just letting the kids make a bit of mess. Sometimes you have to be relaxed and let people live their lives and let home feel like a home.
I’ll do a little bit of work in the evenings. If I’m filming, or if I’m developing something new, then that tends to take over, or I’ll be reading scripts or doing dreaded Zooms: I get very self-conscious. I’m amazed by everyone who’s got ring lights and make-up and backdrops. I’d rather do anything than Zoom, however brilliant an invention it is.
I rarely watch TV in the evening. I watch more at the weekends. I’ve just found Gogglebox, a million years late. Where have I been? I’ve got 16 series to get through and I’m quite happy about that, going into the winter months. I found out that they did do Bodyguard, so I’m excited to see them react to that. They’re a brilliant bunch of people and characters. I love it. Matthew [Macfadyen, star of Succession] and I also watched lots of documentaries during the first lockdown.
We all have a very healthy relationship with food. We sort of eat what we want to eat and we’re not strict. Matthew makes brilliant Italian sausage pasta and roast dinners and quite cosy family food and Maggie is a really good cook, so often she’ll make something. We like to encourage that. They’re all better than me. We’re also trying to be greener: the children are interested in that, and Matthew really enjoyed going vegan for a couple of months. I bought Melissa Hemsley’s cookbook, Eat Happy. It’s all so simple and delicious and comforting, using things you might have in the cupboard.
We all grew up with Clarks. Who didn’t have a pair of Wallabees? And my children have always worn Clarks. They’re a part of the family in a funny way. I had a meeting about partnering with them, and I mentioned that I am an ambassador for UNICEF. I found out they already had a connection, so working together has been a lovely thing. We did a shoot towards the end of lockdown: it was so nice to get out of the house and see other human beings, and work with Rankin.
Lockdown has meant lots of WhatsApps and lots of memes. For me, the best person on WhatsApp is Jane Lapotaire, who I met doing Rebecca. Her memes are the filthiest of all. I adore Jane, she is brilliant and hilarious. It’s really good to share things like that with people: it brightens the day. But we didn’t do a single quiz as a family: we just didn’t go there.
I would like to be in bed at 9pm. But by the time I’ve faffed around, done some reading and been on my phone, it’s 11pm. I love my bed: there’s no better place. You spend so much of your life putting the kids to bed, but in the last year it’s completely changed: now I’m in bed, and they come to say goodnight to me.
Shop Keeley’s Edit from the A/W ’20 Clarks collection online now at clarks.co.uk
This interview originally appeared in Grazia in December 2020