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Keira Knightley forced to pull out of Apple TV+ project due to childcare concerns

Photo credit: Tim P. Whitby - Getty Images
Photo credit: Tim P. Whitby - Getty Images

From Harper's BAZAAR

Keira Knightley has confirmed that she has had to pull out of Apple TV+'s adaptation of The Essex Serpent due to concerns over pandemic childcare.

The 35-year-old actress, who has two young daughters with her musician husband Jamie Righton, was due to play the lead role of Cora in the period drama based on the 2016 novel of the same title by Sarah Perry.

A spokesperson for Knightley confirmed to the Daily Mail that she has dropped out of the production due to "family reasons", explaining that due to the rise of Covid-19 cases in the UK and reports that further lockdown restrictions may be implemented, "there wasn't a comfortable scenario for Keira that could be put in place for an extended period of childcare required for the four-and-a-half-month production".

Photo credit: Julien M. Hekimian - Getty Images
Photo credit: Julien M. Hekimian - Getty Images

Set in 1893, The Essex Serpent follows newly widowed Cora, who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area.

The novel won the British Book Awards for 2016 Book of the Year and Waterstones Book of the Year 2016.

Knightley was also due to serve as executive producer on the drama, which has been adapted for the screen by Mrs Wilson writer Anna Symon.

The Collette star welcomed her first child Edie in 2015, and Delilah in 2019, and has always been refreshingly honest about the challenges of motherhood. During an interview last year to promote her acclaimed film Official Secrets, she admitted that she hardly even had time to brush her hair weeks after giving birth to her second daughter.

"This is the third time since I've given birth that my hair has been brushed and I didn't brush it," she told BBC Breakfast. "Lovely Luke who was my hairdresser today, he brushed it. I was in my pyjamas when they got here and this is somebody else's dress. So this is all smoke and mirrors today, which I am super happy about but I have just sort of been led here."

On the advice she would give to other mothers who have a six-week old baby at home, she added: "You should still be in your pyjamas. Don't brush your hair, let the house be a complete mess and only see people who are going to bring you food."

Meanwhile, BBC News reports that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be making a statement to MPs on Monday giving details of new restrictions to slow the spread of coronavirus in England.

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