Lara Pulver: 'I always wanted to play Helen Mirren's daughter'

Initially we were all like, “It’s Dame Helen Mirren!” but she blew that away within seconds. I don’t think I’ve actually told her this, but when I was at drama school I created an “inspiration board” with a picture of Helen from Prime Suspect at the centre because I was mildly obsessed with her in that and wanted to play her daughter one day. Here I am playing her daughter-in-law; I’ll take that.

Is this a gangster show where women have real power?

Maeve is the absolute puppeteer of the Harrigan family and what becomes very clear in series two is that most of the women have gone “Enough!”, which is really exciting.

Your character, Bella, had an affair with Conrad and became pregnant with her son Eddie, then married Conrad’s son Kevin. Interesting character development...

It’s a crazy dynamic. Conrad and Bella genuinely fell for each other. Whenever Pierce and I are in scenes together I just want you to feel that kind of frisson that past lovers share. Pierce is the ultimate movie star; just being in his presence, he oozes sensuality, charisma. We have a lovely scene in season two where it’s just closing the gap of the physicality between these two people, a look that they share. They know exactly what they’re saying without having to say it because they have history.

At drama school I was mildly obsessed with Helen and always wanted to play her daughter

Bella puts a lot of sexual pressure on Tom Hardy’s Harry...

Oh, it’s such fun! It’s absolutely delicious. Tom said to me the one character that Harry should never feel comfortable with is Bella. That gives me absolute room to play, because my job is to turn on a dime every two seconds so that he doesn’t know what I’m implying. Would she ever go there? Who knows? I don’t think she even cares. It’s just this fun game that I really enjoy playing as an actor.

Do you see Bella as a good mother? Her son Eddie is an egomaniac and murderer...

She adores Eddie [Anson Boon], and that’s a slight problem. He’s an absolute victim of his circumstances. He’s been raised in such a privileged household with a psychotic grandmother who has been very influential.

How do you feel about the violence?

It’s tricky, isn’t it? I feel like post-everything that’s happened over the past few decades, watching violence on screen is very uncomfortable for me personally. That maybe coincides with becoming a mother and having lived in America. But this is Guy Ritchie: wit and humour underlie his work, which means one doesn’t feel uncomfortable with the actions of this family. However, do I feel comfortable, even in a rehearsal, with someone pointing a gun at me? No, and I’d actually ask for them not to.

What can we expect from Bella in the new series?

I feel like in the first series, Bella ended up having to deal with so much of her past and her baggage. And what’s interesting in series two, when we meet her, it’s almost like she’s owned that part of herself now. She’s no longer a victim of those circumstances; she is just in her centre. She’s in her power, and there are moments where you can see a side of Bella that you would not want to cross. It’s like Maeve 2.0. That’s fun.