BBC This is Going to Hurt: The life of Harriet Walter, from the Hollywood icon’s uncle to her relationship with the Inspector Morse actor and her marriage to the famous Broadway star

Harriet Walter boasts of a long and successful career as a British actress. She has appeared in several films including The Young Victoria, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rocketman and Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel.

She has also starred in a number of TV shows, including as Natalie Chandler in the ITV drama series Law & Order: UK, Lady Prudence Shackleton in four episodes of Downton Abbey and Clementine Churchill in The Crown. More recently she played the character Dasha in Killing Eve and Jo Patterson in an episode of BBC’s Doctor Who.

A former Broadway actress, Harriet has also appeared in several Royal Shakespeare Company productions such as Twelfth Night, Three Sisters, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra. In 2011, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to the theatre.

Considering she’s the niece of late Hollywood legend Christopher Lee, it’s really no wonder that Harriet was also bitten by the comedy bug at a very young age.

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His uncle died in 2015 at the age of 93, but he left behind a career that spanned seven decades. He will be best remembered for his brilliant portrayal of villains in popular movies, especially for his role as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror movies.

Christopher also played Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, Count Dooku in the Star Wars films Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and Saruman in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit film trilogies.

A true child of the acting profession, Harriet was also in an eight-year relationship with actor Peter Blythe, who many might recognize as Kenneth Lawrence from the TV series Inspector Morse. Peter was also in the comedy classic Only Fools and Horses, as well as many other well-known shows throughout his four decades on screen.

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Harriet remained with Peter until his death in 2004 at the age of 69 shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer. The couple had planned to marry at the time of his death.

Five years later, Harriet meets American actor Guy Paul. Guy had also appeared in Law and Order as Nicholas Dalton, as well as The Sopranos and Life on Mars. Later, he played the role of Léonce Pontellier in The Awakening.

Harriet and Guy married in 2011, two years after they first met. Harriet, now 71, was 60 when she married. Guy had never been married before.

According to a Telegraph article while still engaged to Guy, Harriet had spent much of her life alone before meeting her late partner Peter. She said: “I spent a lot of my life on my own and that was fine with me until I met Peter and found out how great it is to do things with someone”.

She added that she was still wearing the engagement ring that Peter had given her, with Guy’s blessing, and that the next role she would play was “to get married”.

Harriet is now playing the character Veronique in a new comedy-drama called This is Going to Hurt, which will next air on Tuesday at 9pm on BBC One.

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