LUCY LAWLESS is almost unrecognisable. She became a world icon playing the cult role of Xena, the Warrior Princess. Now, though, the actress has a more lithe and willowy figure and is a lot less fearsome.

A lot has changed in the two years since Lucy filmed her last episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. She is now a mother of three and has clocked up a number of small and disparate roles that bear no relation to the fantasy figure that made her famous.

But there is one thing that hasn't changed - in the hearts and minds of fans she is still Xena.

"Those kind of shows have legs," says the 35-year-old. "And because they're iconic, the character is more known than the show was actually watched.

"People will say they've seen Xena, when in fact they might have watched maybe one or two shows. They'll have grabbed the image of it and I'm still indelibly imprinted on it."

Xena was a huge phenomenon. The Amazon fantasy heroine not only made Lucy a star, she garnered a worldwide cult following - and a husband, marrying the show's co-producer and horror movie icon Rob Tapert.

She was a feminist role model and at the same time a sex symbol for men and a lesbian icon. There was merchandising, comics, a theme park and hundreds of websites dedicated to the world of Xena.

"To me, it was just a gig," explains Lucy in her strong New Zealand accent.

"It was a fantasy show and I never realised that anybody could take such a thing to heart and view it with all sorts of wisdom that it really didn't have. It became greater than the sum of its parts.

"But all good things come to an end and so it was with the adventures of Xena in 2001.

At the time, some blame was placed on Lucy herself who, it was said, had decided to quit when she became pregnant with her second child, Julius, now three. She denies this.

"The people who paid for it just moved on to other things. All shows end and the producers were running out of storylines and I was certainly out of energy."

Rest

So was she happy it ended?

"Yes," she admits. "I had nothing to do with the decision but I was grateful for the rest, to be honest. However, I had nothing but fun doing it, and obviously it's done great things for me. Here I am travelling the world and working with great people."

Lucy has spent much of the year jet-setting around the world filming a new documentary series. In Warrior Women, she travels to Britain, France, Ireland, China and the United States to uncover the stories of some of history's forgotten heroines.

"Characters like Boudica and the Apache warrior, Lozen, are often overlooked because they're women," says Lucy.

"It's an age-old problem. The last time women were really held in high regard was in pre-Christian times when women were celebrated as being representative as the Earth mother. But I guess that's slowly being redressed."

Her particular favourite is featured tonight - the 16th century pirate sea queen, Grainne Mhoal, known as Grace O'Malley to the English, as Lawless's family are originally from Ireland. Visiting the country for filming was a particular pleasure and she even called in at a pub recommended by her uncle.

Lucy was brought up in Auckland, the fifth of seven children. Having four older brothers, she was unwittingly prepared for her role as Xena, soon becoming a tomboy who felt that anything her brothers could do she could do just as well.

"I could ride, shoot a bow and arrow, run like hell when I had to, and swim like a fish," she says with a grin.

"My mother says I didn't know I was a girl until I was about eight. I guess it wasn't relevant."

Lucy even worked as gold miner for a few years deep in the Australian Outback, but acting was always her ultimate goal.

"My girlfriends and I would adapt plays as kids," she recalls. "I was always very clear that acting was what I wanted to do."

Warrior Women is on Discovery, tonight at 9pm.