History lessons: Why Kiera Knightley loves period roles

Keira Knightley says she's finally come to terms with the fact she spends most of her time on screen in period costume.

After 20 years of acting and 40 odd movies, Keira, 28, tells TV Times magazine that she’s now embracing the historical roles that made her name.

"I’ve been asking myself about that an awful lot and I think when I was younger I felt really bad about it and felt I was doing something wrong in doing so many period films,"says the Pirates of the Caribbean star, “and then all of a sudden I went, 'Ok, this is obviously my taste. I’m drawn to this.'"

The Teddington-born Hollywood star donned corsets for the first three movies in the Pirates… series and as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.

Kiera also stepped back in time for to play an 18th Century aristocrat in The Duchess, as well as Guinevere in King Arthur andthe title role in last year’s Anna Karenina.

“I love history, I love reading historical novels and I love watching period pieces as well as performing in them, and I think it’s something to do with the fantasy aspect of things, which is what I love.” 

Read a full interview with Kiera in this week's TV Times.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.