Inside Red Eye star Lesley Sharp’s life off screen: Actress was adopted as a baby, had a bizarre brush with the police and close friendship with the late actress Helen McCrory

As ITV’s brand new thriller series Red Eye kicks off tonight, Lesley Sharp plays the role of Director General of MI5, Madeline Delaney.

Manchester-born Lesley, 64, is renowned for acclaimed roles in Scott and Bailey, Before We Die and Afterlife – but her off-life screen is just as interesting, from being adopted as a baby, to a bizarre brush with the police.

The BAFTA-nominated has also played villain Rosalind Hale in the Netflix series Fate: The Winx Saga, and starred often alongside Hollywood A-listers including Vera Drake with Imelda Staunton and Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect.

Now the actress returns in a bombshell role for the nail-biting six-part crime show, where she joins leading stars Richard Armitage (Fool Me Once) and Jing Lusi (Crazy Rich Asians).

The plot follows Dr Matthew Nolan (Richard) a British surgeon who’s arrested at Heathrow Airport after returning from a medical conference in China.

He had come frighteningly close to dying in a car crash in Beijing before boarding his flight, and the Chinese authorities are insisting on his immediate arrest and extradition because they claim a female passenger died in his car, but he insists he was alone.

London detective Hana Li (Jing) has been assigned to escort Dr Nolan back to Beijing straight away on an overnight flight, but when passengers start dying on board she realises Nolan’s life is in danger and an international conspiracy is afoot.

As the series begins, MailOnline takes a look at the actress’ life off-screen. 

EARLY LIFE 

The Full Monty favourite was adopted when she was only six weeks old.

Lesley’s adoptive mother tragically passed away when was 15 and she had a strong bond with her adoptive father, previously telling The Telegraph ‘he was enormously proud and supportive in a quiet, hands-off sort of way.’

Opening up about her mum, she explained: ‘I wish I’d known her, really! You know when you get asked those questions: who would you have had at your fantasy dinner party? Definitely, my mum.’

But the grief she went through, gave her a purpose to begin her acting journey after she found an outlet in a local drama club.

She told how the drama coach at the time noticed she was struggling to process her grief and ‘without being overly sympathetic, without asking too much about that stuff, she saw what a relief it was for me, to turn up there on Wednesday evenings.’

BIZARRE BRUSH WITH THE POLICE 

Previously speaking to The Guardian, the Paranoid sensation opened up about one time she thought she’d discovered a body outside her London flat.

‘When I lived in a flat in Herne Hill, London, I saw a body hanging over the landing of the flat above and thought someone had taken their own life, so I called the police. They found a wetsuit that someone had hung up to dry.’

LOVE OF WILD SWIMMING 

As well as her incredible acting qualities, Lesley is also a skilled swimmer.

Chatting to Coast magazine, she explained swimming is a source of relaxation for her, leaving fans bewildered when she admitted to also wild swimming in the Thames.

‘Although I live in London now, I’ve always felt strongly that I need to be able to get to a stretch of water.

‘I’ve actually swum in the Thames, near Lechlade, because I do like wild-water swimming. And being able to swim in the sea as part of a holiday, to me, is vital.’

CLOSE BOND WITH HELEN MCCRORY 

Lesley had a close friendship with late Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory – who passed away due to cancer on 16 April 2021.

The acting pair first met while filming early 2000s drama Carla in Greece, as Lesley revealed the pair bought matching bracelets at the time, and the late star messaged her for her birthday shortly before her death.

‘I just thought she was an amazing actress – she was brilliant and very, very funny – a whip-smart woman,’ she told The Telegraph.

‘She texted me on my birthday this year (2021) and said ‘happy, happy birthday, lovely girl, I’m wearing this bracelet today and thinking of you’ and all the rest of it.

‘So I texted back and said, you know, amazing, wonderful to hear from you. I’ll be wearing my bracelet…’

NORTHERN DNA 

The Priest actress left the North West for London seeking a successful career when she was only 18, but insisted she has a ‘quintessentially northern DNA’.

‘I very much consider myself a Mancunian. There is something quintessentially northern in my DNA, even though I’ve lived in London since I was 18. I think it’s a sense of humour and desire to be friendly.’

Lesley is married to husband and fellow actor Nicholas Gleaves, after tying the knot back in 1994. The couple shares two sons Zachary, 30, and Gabriel, 26.

Lesley also spilled the beans on how easily she goes incognito when stepping out in London, despite being so recognisable on screen. 

‘I’ll be in the supermarket and they’ll say, ‘Are you the woman who goes to the gym with my sister?’ And I’ll say, ‘I don’t know. Probably’,’ she told The Guardian.

You can choose to go about your life attracting attention or deflecting it. I’m very happy to do my work and then slip into my private life.’

Red Eye was written by Peter A Dowling, who knows about nerve-shredding plane journeys having created the successful 2005 movie Flightplan starring Jodie Foster, about a girl who goes missing on a transatlantic flight. 

Peter had then written a submarine-based thriller for ITV but that got cancelled when BBC1 pipped them to the post with 2021’s Vigil, so ITV and Peter moved their drama to the skies.

‘Red Eye is like a contemporary Agatha Christie in that you’re trapped in a contained location and people are dying,’ says Peter, a Brit who lives in the US. 

‘You’ll be thinking, ‘How can somebody get away with this?’ In that environment the killer must still be there. You know that if you want to catch the killer, you have until the plane lands… so the clock is ticking.’ 

Red Eye begins on Sunday evening, 21 April, at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.