Suranne Jones has told how she drew on her experience as a new mother to help her work on the second series of Doctor Foster.
The actress, who returns as Dr Gemma Foster in the hit BBC One drama series, has also said that she was surprised at how successful the programme was as she thought its storyline about infidelity would be “quite niche”.
The first series aired in 2015, and saw Gemma as the spurned wife who was cheated on by her husband Simon, played by Bertie Carvel.
Jones, who welcomed her first child in March 2016, told the Radio Times that becoming a mother had an impact on her for the second series.
Asked if having a baby made it difficult to return to Gemma’s world, she said: “People ask me, ‘What did you draw on – were you thinking of (an actual) infidelity?’.
“But clearly, I wasn’t thinking like that because by series two we had a baby, we were really happy.”
She added: “I can really understand how the powerful love that creates a child can turn into something so bitter.
“It’s really helped me because this series is about when two people get divorced, and because everyone else is looking the other way and getting on with their lives, they think everything is plastered over.”
Jones added that this is when the problems occur, “because no one’s got their eye on the two people that f****** hate each other”.
She admitted to bringing her son, whose father is her husband Laurence Akers, to work with her due to the filming schedule.
“I love being a mum too much to not be around,” she said.
Jones, who rose to fame in ITV soap Coronation Street, said she is still surprised at how successful Doctor Foster was when it debuted.
The first series scored more than 9 million viewers per episode, and Jones won the best actress TV Bafta prize for her efforts in 2016.
She said: “I didn’t think it would be so huge, because I thought infidelity might be quite niche, but clearly not.
“People want to know about infidelity. I’ve friends that have been in relationships like Gemma Foster.”
Doctor Foster returns to BBC One at 9pm on September 5.
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