Bouquet Of Barbed Wire shocked the nation back in 1976 and Spooks favourite Hermione Norris stars in a new version on ITV1 playing Trevor Eve’s screen wife.

Did you see the original Bouquet Of Barbed Wire?
Yes, everyone of a certain generation remembers it, so the moment I got the script I knew it would draw a lot of attention.

Tell us about your character, Cassie.
She’s sort of minimal, as it’s more her husband Peter and daughter Prue’s story — his obsession with her. When I met Imogen Poots, who plays Prue, at the read through I knew we’d be all right because she’s so raw and open.

Can you put yourself in Cassie’s shoes?
If my daughter was in a similar situation as Prue and said, ‘This is my boyfriend and by the way I’m pregnant’, I would be devastated.

Cassie goes on to have an affair with Prue’s husband Gavin. Was it tough doing those scenes with Tom Riley?
When you’re in my job, the stuff you have to do! You just have to close your eyes, hold your nose and jump in. If you start thinking, you’ll get scared or start laughing.

In the original, incest was implied pretty strongly between Peter and Prue. Is it present in this version?
There’s a moment when the feeling between Peter and Prue is so intense that it almost becomes a kiss. It freaks them both out.

It’s quite bleak, isn’t it?
Yes, I have compassion for all of the characters, but watching that youthful, beautiful girl being totally destroyed by that level of dysfunction is just awful. It’s such a sad story and there’s no happy ending, it just gets worse and worse. When we were filming we kept saying it was like a Greek tragedy or panto! Hopefully we’ve nailed the Greek tragedy, because it’s so not panto.

Did you find it difficult to switch off after filming?
No, I’m quite good at that because I’ve got two children so I’m very disciplined about it.

What was it like working with Trevor Eve as your screen husband?
Great, he’s very passionate about what he does and he’s not frightened of throwing a scene around and trying stuff.

How would you compare playing Cassie to playing Ros in Spooks?
To be actually able to speak to people in this is much easier. Learning all the Spooks information was really stressful.

What are you up to next?
A BBC drama called Outcasts which is set in 2040 on a different planet. Earth has come to an end due to war and is no longer a viable place to live and I play a scientist who takes a transporter to another planet, leaving her child and husband behind. They are supposed to be on the next transporter out, but 15 years later, another transporter hasn’t arrived. It’s about how civilization tries to start again and not make the same mistakes as before.

By Mary Comerford