One of TV's most accomplished actresses has ditched her brunette bob for an unlikely new look as she filmed the fifth series of the Apple TV+ show Trying.

Charlotte Riley, who is married to Hollywood A-Lister Tom Hardy, swapped her typical style for a new pixie cut as she joined stars Esther Smith and Rafe Spall to film the comedy in Ware, Hertfordshire on Saturday.

Dressed in denim dungarees and a green jacket, Charlotte was among the cast filming at Hertford East train station, which had been renamed as Southend Bay.

The series focuses on Jason Ross and Nikki Newman, who dream of becoming parents, but struggle to conceive a child.

Desperate for a family, Nikki and Jason turned their lives inside-out in the first three series, to be approved by adoption services, and the most recent series picked up six years later, when the couple are bringing up Tyler and Princess.

In addition to Rafe and Esther, the cast includes Sian Brooke as Karen, and BAFTA Award winner Darren Boyd as Scott.

And the romance between its two leading characters has spilled off the screen, as stars Rafe and Esther went public with their offscreen romance in November 2022, and revealed in May 2024 they were expecting their first child together.

Tom and Charlotte starred together in Peaky Blinders and met on the set of an adaptation of Wuthering Heights. They married in July 2014. 

The Venom star shares 16-year-old son Louis with his ex-girlfriend Rachael Speed and then has two children - whose names and genders have not been revealed publicly - with Charlotte.

As well as Trying and Wuthering Heights, Charlotte has also starred in series including Press, World Without End and A Christmas Carol. 

In 2023, she also revealed she had set up a nursery 'for the first time in the history of film', providing childcare for those in the industry.

The actress, who is a proud mum to her two children, co-founded WonderWorks nursery near Warner Bros Studios in Hertfordshire the previous year.

Despite Charlotte and her husband Tom Hardy having a multi-million pound fortune which would enable them to hire a nanny, the mum-of-two explained the nursery was 'vital' for the film industry.

Speaking to The Times, Charlotte said: 'We have so many people, particularly women, who've got to their mid-thirties, want to have children but have gone, "Oh my God, I'm literally about to direct my first film." Then they have to choose and that's all kinds of wrong.'

The Press star continued: 'The industry chooses to work those long hours, 15-hour days. It's now time for the industry to take some responsibility for its social impact.'

During the interview, the actress said she hasn't been forced to turn down jobs because she could afford to hire a nanny 'because her partner's working'.

But Charlotte said the nursery is important for those in the industry who aren't commanding huge salaries, who have to work to short contracts and move between studio and location shoots.

Charlotte said her husband Tom was 'really supportive' of the nursery and helped out 'with all the bits and bobs that we're doing'.

'He knows how vital this is, he really cares about the teams that he works with, anybody will tell you he's the first person there on set, saying good morning to everybody,' she said.

Charlotte described the interior of the nursery 'a bit like going to your granny's house' as it boasts an eclectic collection of up-cycled props, costumes and furniture from old movie sets.