Eve Myles is back on screen as DCI Jeanette Kilburn in season two of the psychological thriller The Crow Girl, now airing on Paramount Plus and set to premiere on Channel 5 on Monday, July 20, at 9pm. The 47-year-old Welsh actress has captivated audiences for decades, but her journey has included near-quitting acting, backlash from the hit series Broadchurch, and a marriage to her on-screen husband.
Eve Myles' Famous Husband
Myles is married to actor Bradley Freegard, best known for playing her on-screen husband Evan Howells in the BBC drama Keeping Faith. The couple met at the National Youth Theatre in 1994 when they were both 16. They married in Italy in 2013 and have three daughters together. On The Second Act podcast, Myles gushed: "He [Freegard] is my best friend. He is my backbone, he is my world and we met when we were 16."
Almost Quitting Acting for Midwifery
Before landing her breakout role in Keeping Faith, Myles admitted she had "a wobble" and seriously considered retraining as a midwife. She explained: "I've been going since the second year of college, working professionally, and you have those moments where you think 'yeah I'll go study medicine, maybe I will go into law.' And I signed up for midwifery and then this juggernaut came along... It was getting my teeth into something, exactly what I needed. We were creating something authentic and fresh and exciting and taking on something that possibly I didn't think I could do."
'Hardest Thing I've Ever Done': Learning Welsh for Keeping Faith
To secure her role in the Welsh-language drama Keeping Faith, Myles had to learn Welsh—a task she calls the "hardest thing I've ever done." She told iNews: "Every morning I would get up at 5.30 and go for a run before the kids woke up. I would play my lines on my phone. I would be learning my lines as I was running. I don't know how it happened, but it all managed to go in and stay there. I'm still petrified. Every time I open my mouth and speak Welsh, I still think: 'Who the hell is speaking?' It's like an out of body experience. But doing Keeping Faith was just what I needed."
Broadchurch Backlash
Myles joined the cast of ITV's Broadchurch in 2015 as Sandbrook murder suspect Claire Ripley. The second season faced criticism, with some dubbing it "Boredchurch." Myles refused to let the backlash affect her. She told Radio Times: "With something so successful, when it's so heavily anticipated, you're going to get people not enjoying it as much as the first series. It's a brilliant drama, but what gets highlighted is the negative stuff. At least people are talking about it!"
True Crime Obsession for The Crow Girl
To prepare for her role as DCI Jeanette Kilburn in The Crow Girl, Myles binged the Channel 4 documentary series 24 Hours in Police Custody. She told The Independent: "To prepare, I watched every 24 Hours in Police Custody that's ever been made. And every forensic and serial killer show on the planet. But to be honest with you, that's nothing to do with the job. That's kind of the stuff I watch... I'm a little bit odd like that."
The Crow Girl season two is available to stream on Paramount Plus and airs on Channel 5 on July 20 at 9pm.
