Of late, we’ve seen actress Olivia Colman scoop prestigious awards for her incredible role in the film everyone’s talking about: The Favourite.

Over the past few years, we’ve watched the actress steal the show in the likes of Green Wing, Broadchurch and The Night Manager. And now we’re on tenterhooks as we await our first glimpse of her in her new role as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s The Crown.

However, things could’ve been very different, according to Colman, and it’s all due to a certain advert. Cast your minds back to 2004, when she appeared as Bev in the AA’s beloved Kev & Bev. In it, Colman and her co-star Mark Burdis, as the titular characters, can be seen driving a rundown car before they pull up alongside a shiner versions of themselves at the traffic lights. Their doppelgangers then reveal that their appearance, and seemingly affluent lifestyle, is all thanks to AA: they took out a loan, bought their cool, new car, and things took off from there.

Watch the advert below for yourself:

Olivia Colman reflects on the 2004 role that became the “bane of my life”