Emma Johnson discovers Kim Cattrall has swapped the streets of New York for pre-war Britain in a new ITV1 drama.

WOMEN (and many men) the world over are eagerly anticipating her return to the role of PR executive Samantha Jones – one of television’s most famous man-eaters.

But, while she and her fellow on-screen fashionistas battle paparazzi on New York’s streets trying to get the big- screen version of Sex and the City wrapped, Kim Cattrall fans can satiate themselves when she appears on the small screen in one of ITV1’s autumn drama showpieces.

The Liverpool-born actress plays Rudyard Kipling’s wife Caroline (Carrie) in My Boy Jack, with Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe as her son, the eponymous John “Jack” Kipling.

Set during World War I, the film tells the true story of how the Jungle Book author, (played by David Haig, above) used his influence to get his son a commission with the Irish Guards, despite his son’s poor eyesight.

Jack went missing in action during the Battle of Loos and his parents carried out an ardent search for him, spanning many years. His mother Carrie does not want the war, or for her son to be any part of it, but is powerless against her husband.

THE role is a million miles away from the bed-hopping antics of her most famous alter-ego, but, for 51-year-old Kim, the story has a very personal relevance.

“My reasons for doing My Boy Jack were personal as well as professional,” explains the softly-spoken actress.

“I’m reminded of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Everyone was rallying for vengeance and retaliation. I can imagine the same kind of fever in 1914 and a young man like John Kipling wanting to sign up and defend king and country.

“There’s a similar situation going on in my own family at the present moment. A young man in my family wants to go to war. Even though my 18-year-old nephew’s grandfathers and great grandfathers served in World War I and II, there is no way I want to see my eager nephew sign up and serve in Iraq. And I have been anything but silent about it.

“My young nephew has bad vision, like Jack Kipling, and can only see clearly through his right eye,” Kim continues.

“Still, his desire to serve and become part of what he perceives as the greatest battle being fought in his lifetime is stronger than all the arguments made. I don’t want my nephew to be part of any war, but I am powerless to stop him should his passion continue and he be accepted.

“Ultimately, it is his decision. This doesn’t stop me emailing and sending him articles to try and stop him.

“Unlike Carrie Kipling, I live in a time when women can and do speak out publicly and privately against war, and my hope is that my nephew and other young men and women like him will get a chance to see My Boy Jack and think more clearly of how it will not only affect their lives but their families for generations.”

Born in Mossley Hill, Kim moved away to Vancouver, Canada, when she was just one, but returned to Liverpool when she was 11 and studied at St Edmund’s College.

A keen actress, she trained for a year at Lamda, in London, before returning Stateside where she graduated from the famous American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

While these days she is arguably one of television’s most recognisable stars, with a glut of Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe on the sideboard, success was a long time coming for Kim.

After graduating from college, she trod the boards before being cast in a string of movies.

Her most memorable roles (if not the most impressive) included playing a voracious teacher in the teen comedy Porky’s and the lead in the romantic comedy, Mannequin. And, of course, there was that infamous pointy-eared appearance in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

However, her shaky CV was quickly forgotten when, after turning the part down twice, in 1997 she finally joined the cast of Sex and the City in what would turn out to be one of television’s most graphic of roles.

And while she may find herself baring all once more in the film version of the series (who knows – they are all keeping their cards very close to their chests on the plots, despite the constant stream of on-set photos), Kim seems to have enjoyed being literally buttoned up in her latest role.

Written about in the book Hated Wife, Carrie Kipling – an American in conservative pre-War Britain – was a powerhouse of a woman who was fiercely protective of her world- famous husband.

It was a trait said to have made her one of the most despised women of her generation.

But ultimately this fiercely independent female had to give in to her husband over their son’s decision to go to war.

Says Kim: “At the very beginning of our story, there seems no possible way that Jack will be accepted to serve because of his poor eyesight. Carrie asks Rudyard if he can get him a clerical job.

“She’s usually adept at handling and influencing Kipling. She believes he’s going to do as she asks, so Jack will be safe behind a desk for the entire war.

But Rudyard pulls some strings through his powerful friends to get Jack a commission and suddenly he is going off to war.

“I look at Carrie from my modern sensibility and I scream ‘Get on your knees and beg him not to go! Shoot Jack in the foot! Don’t let him go to the Front’. I long for her to join her daughter Elsie’s rants of ‘Why!’ but Carrie lowers her head as the dutiful wife of her generation and tries to support both Jack and Rudyard’s decision.”

It is hard to imagine Kim ever playing the dutiful wife.

Married at 19 to Larry Davis, the couple later split and subsequent marriages to Andre J Lyson and Mark Levinson (with whom she wrote the sex manual Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm) both ended in divorce.

Earlier this year, there were claims that Kim was planning to get married a fourth time – to her toy boy, chef Alan Wyse, 27, but she was quick to scotch the rumours, insisting she never plans to walk down the aisle again: “There’s no reason to. I am happier than I have ever been.”

For 17-year-old Radcliffe, the lead in My Boy Jack is his first television role, and Kim says the teenager was ideal for the part.

“Daniel was perfectly cast. Jack and Daniel are going through a very similar period in their lives right now, creating their independent world and making their own decisions,” she says. “And there’s that incredible enthusiasm – I think he’s wonderfully cast and very, very touching in the part.”

Despite probing on the subject on the Sex and the City front, Kim gives little away. Accused in the press of stalling the movie project due to a rift between her and executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker, she has always refused to comment.

As for the plot, she admits only that “there’s some pretty groundbreaking stuff in store for Samantha”, and that her character will grapple with the big 5-0.

As for Kim, who recently revealed she turned down a lead in the comedy Ugly Betty, house-hunting in London and continuing to bring strong female roles to life are next on the agenda, once SATC filming finishes.

“I'm 51 now, so the roles are not as good as they used to be. As you get older, your audience gets a little smaller.

“But then look at Helen Mirren and Judi Dench: they’re playing the roles of their lives at 60 and 70.”

MY BOY Jack is on ITV1 on Sunday, November 11.