Polly Walker: ‘My greatest achievement? Continuing to work in this business in my fifties’

Film and television actor Polly Walker, 55, is known for roles in the BBC’s Line of Duty and Age Before Beauty and Netflix’s Cursed.

What was your childhood or earliest ambition?
To be an actress, from the age of four or so. But I had not a clue how anybody would do anything like that. On Saturdays there used to be those black-and-white films on TV and I was just crazy about them: I wanted to be one of those women.

Private school or state school? University or straight into work?
State primary in Warrington, where I grew up. From the age of 10, boarding school in Sussex — the Bush Davies dance school, which is no more. Then the Rambert School. From there I went back to Manchester High School for Girls, aged 17, to do my A-levels. I then went to the Drama Centre instead of university.

Who was or still is your mentor?
No one. Unfortunately.

How physically fit are you?
Not very, after this pandemic. I’ve gone back to doing the Pilates Reformer, which is great. I do a bit of yoga — I like the movements. I don’t like the gym, I like doing classes with other people, exercising communally, anything dance-based.

Ambition or talent: which matters more to success?
You need a bit of both. I don’t think one will sustain you totally. You also need perseverance and patience and, in this business, to be philosophical. You have to keep going.

How politically committed are you?
I’m committed to causes I think are important. I’m always for the underdog and I’m pretty liberal-minded. I believe in kind politics and in protecting the environment.

What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
I would like the ability to truly relax. True peace of mind. The ability to be a bit more zen about life.

What’s your biggest extravagance?
Self-care: having massages or beauty treatments.

In what place are you happiest?
At home with my family.

What ambitions do you still have?
To continue to do good work, to work with good people and be allowed to represent myself in the best way possible. And to have more holidays and travel more. There are so many places I want to go.

What drives you on?
A strong work ethic. A strong sense that I have to be busy. I need to earn a living and support my children and try to provide the best that I can for them. And I want to feel fulfilled, like I’ve made the most of my time on this Earth and achieved my potential — whatever that turns out to be.

What is the greatest achievement of your life so far?
Raising two healthy, loving individuals. And continuing to work in this business in my fifties.

What do you find most irritating in other people?
Lies, cruelty, unkindness, laziness, flakiness, weakness.

If your 20-year-old self could see you now, what would she think?
I think she’d be surprised — and I hope that she would feel a level of respect and compassion.

Which object that you’ve lost do you wish you still had?
I saved up all my money and bought these six gold bangles that I’d always coveted — then they got stolen when I was working on a job. I felt so sad; I’d wanted them for years and years and then they got nicked. I often wonder where they are now.

What is the greatest challenge of our time?
To cohabit on this planet while doing the least damage we can to each other and to it. To protect animals, plants, the environment, our resources and each other.

Do you believe in an afterlife?
I hope I do. I want to. I’m working on it and, hopefully, by the time it’s my turn, it’ll be cemented into my being. This can’t be it. All that energy, all that life surely has to go somewhere.

If you had to rate your satisfaction with your life so far, out of 10, what would you score?
Six. There’s room for improvement but overall I feel pretty lucky and blessed.

Polly Walker stars in the new series of “Bridgerton”, on Netflix from March 25

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