She won a best actress Oscar playing an elegant intellectual in costume drama Howards End, set in an Edwardian country house.

Now Emma Thompson has found herself in grittier surroundings – hiding beneath an upturned kayak beside Regent’s Canal in London for her latest role as a private investigator.

Wearing a long black leather coat, grey T-shirt, blue jeans and heavy boots, Dame Emma was spotted sprawled on the leaf-strewn ground as the heavy green boat rested on top of her.

For another shot, she was seen clinging to the concrete edge of the canal before dropping to her knees with her arms outstretched.

The pictures appear to show her character, Zoe Boehm, trying to escape from a man dressed in black. Crew members including her stunt double, wearing an identical outfit and matching grey wig, helped Dame Emma to her feet.

The first series of Down Cemetery Road – written by Slow Horses author Mick Herron – premiered last October. It followed Zoe and art conservator Sarah Trafford, played by Luther actress Ruth Wilson, as they investigated the disappearance of a young girl after a house exploded in Oxford.

The second series is based on The Last Voice You Hear and Smoke And Whispers, written by Herron. It begins with a woman falling in front of a train. Zoe is called in to investigate, but she and Sarah are drawn into the black market for art and antiquities and cross paths with a serial killer.

Apple announced last week that Doc Martin star Martin Clunes and Sherlock’s Amanda Abbington had joined the cast.