Jemima Rooper plays Della Day

"While we might raise an eyebrow at an older man with a young woman, we're much less surprised by it than if the ages were reversed - and that's an overhang of our patriarchal society. Women, often because of having children or working so hard, don’t tend to put themselves first in their lives, which is why they don’t end up doing things for fun like having a younger boyfriend.

However, it's something that I feel like I'm slowly starting to see a little bit more among friends or people a little older than me. It is slowly becoming more acceptable for women to live their lives more openly, and that includes dating younger men.

"Women live longer and we hit our sexual peak later than men so really there are lots of excellent reasons for us to date younger men. This drama is told through the eyes of Julia Day (Julia Ormond), a woman later on in her life, who feels very much alive. It's interesting to have a protagonist who is a 60 year-old woman who is finally finding her voice, it feels like an appropriate and important story to be telling."

Jemima explains that she felt a personal connection to her character, Della Day.

"Della is a unique character who I really related to in lots of different ways. She's in her early 30s, she's basically single, she is a lesbian and it's not necessarily that she struggles with her sexuality, but she struggles with her role in her family and how she feels they think and feel about her. She's very lost and that is something a lot of people in their 20s and 30s feel. When trying to get your life together it is scary to think about commitments and career prospects."

Della is a wannabe stand-up comic but she hasn’t addressed her demons well enough to be good at it just yet.

"She's a bit of a drifter and a waster. She self medicates and has a lot of bad habits, which are things she has needed to cope day to day, and it all stems from childhood issues and trauma as well as life in general. Della recognises parts of herself in her father and those are the parts of her she is fighting against and so she terrified of letting her guard down. However, the relationship her mother has with this younger man Benjamin forces her to confront a lot of her issues."

Della’s reaction to her mother’s new boyfriend is interesting.

"She's surprised, but she does not react like her brothers, who are very unhappy. It's an interesting dynamic because although she is the only younger female, her sexuality eliminates any possible feelings of competition. Instead, she just gets to witness her mum for the first time getting what she wants in life and having something that makes her feel good - and that ignites something in Della and starts the process of her thinking about what she might want and need in life."

She discusses Della’s relationships with her siblings, Leo (Archie Renaux) and Patrick (Sebastian Armesto).

"When we meet this family, Della and her older brother Patrick are united, they're a little club and that has a lot to do with their shared childhood trauma. They’re a bit like twins when you meet them, and although they are very much chalk and cheese, they need each other.

"However, as the series goes on Della pulls away from Patrick a little, which is not so nice for him but quite important for Della in terms of standing on her own two feet for the first time and not being led by someone else. They don’t have much of a relationship with their little brother, Leo, as he is a bit more of a daddy’s boy and has had a very different experience of his parents growing up. Working alongside Seb has been fantastic fun as we have known each other since we first worked together, when we were 12 years old."

Della is convinced by Patrick to spy on their mother’s new boyfriend. Jemima tells us about their attempt at espionage and why she enjoyed filming those scenes.

"Patrick definitely leads the suspicious behaviour, but Della has to admit that it is all a bit worrying. The scenes where we are spying on Benjamin were my favourite to film. There is a slightly dark undertone to everything and a sad undertone to a lot of the characters, especially Della who has a real sadness in her, and so getting to do a little Nancy Drew-style scene with Seb was so much fun. It is really fun to put these two characters, who are so different, together in this scenario."

Jemima talks about women in television and her hopes for the future.

"I have found, as a woman in my 30s, that the roles, especially on TV, have disappeared a bit, so I was really thrilled to be given the opportunity to take on this role, especially in a drama written by a woman and with a leading female character.

"Marnie Dickens is the young woman who has written this series, and she has written the men brilliantly as well as the women - often it can be hard when you are writing to be fair to all of the characters but Marnie has a really good grasp of human beings which makes it really exciting. Her characters are vivid and individual and they are fully formed on the page, which is quite rare."

Related Programme Information

• Episode one
• Episode two