Keeley Hawes 'flattered' by male interest

Keeley Hawes insists women don\'t mind if their husbands want to leave them for her \'The Durrells\' character.

The 42-year-old actress - who is married to fellow actor Matthew Macfadyen - recently reprised her role as loveable Louisa Durrell for a third serving of the drama series, and she has been "flattered" by all the male attention she has received as a result of the part.

She said: "It is flattering. And Louisa is not glamorous or anything.

"But it\'s also a very nice reaction from their wives, because they go, \'Yeah if you are going to leave me it\'s all right to leave me for Louisa Durrell.\' "

As well as plenty of husbands, Keeley\'s character is also attracting interest from younger viewers, much to her surprise.

The \'Line of Duty\' star - who has kids Myles, 18, Maggie, 13, and Ralph, 11, with Matthew - said: "My daughter had friends over. One went, \'Are you Mrs Durrell?\' It was so sweet and weird.

"Another time I was at Corfu airport when a lady said, \'We\'ve been searching for you for 10 days and now we\'ve found you.\' People look for our locations."

The show is based on the memoirs of author Gerald Durrell and tells the true story of how his widowed mother Louisa moved her family from England to Corfu to live in 1935.

Keeley believes one of the reasons the series is popular is because it is "comforting" compared to some of the hard-hitting goings on of real life nowadays.

She added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "\'The Durrells\' is like the Victoria Sponge of TV, it is comforting and you can forget those other things for a while."