THERE was plenty of laughter when Sally Hawkins charmed a table of hacks at ITV1’s Jane Austen launch.
She stars this Sunday as Anne Elliot in Persuasion – the third and last of the network’s adaptations.
You may not instantly recognise the name, or the face, but Sally has almost certainly been in something you’ve seen.
Last year she played Manchester department store personal shopper Nathalie in BBC2 drama Shiny Shiny Bright New Hole In My Heart.
Or perhaps you caught her in Vera Drake, Layer Cake, Fingersmith, Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, The Young Visiters or Tipping The Velvet?
Sally was an absolute delight to talk to – funny and refreshingly honest on the subject of having to kiss Persuasion co-star Rupert Penry-Jones (pictured below right).

You can read more in Friday’s MEN TV feature. Update: The online version is here.
Among quotes I wasn’t able to squeeze into the feature was her confession about filming the big scene at the end of the feature length adaptation.
It required her to run along The Royal Crescent in Bath in full costume.

“I fell over once, right on my face, which is very elegant.”
Not that Sally minded the outfits she had to wear.
“It was difficult to give the costumes back at the end of the day. There were some quite nifty little jackets. I thought, ‘I could get away with that in Soho.’”
Judge for yourself on Sunday, but for my money Sally is one of the best actresses of her generation.
Buffy and Little Britain star Anthony Head, who plays her father Sir Walter Elliot, also needs no persuading.
“She’s astonishing, isn’t she? She certainly made me cry twice,” he said at the same launch.
With a part in the new Woody Allen movie already filmed and other projects ahead, I reckon we’ll be hearing a whole lot more about Sally Hawkins.
The Art Of Persuasion
Floods Of Tears For Rupert
Billie Piper Goes Back In Time
Billie’s Walk In The Park