Coldwater star says 'it was the norm' as she shares personal link to ITV thriller

Coldwater's Indira Varma has spoken candidly about the "shame" surrounding working mothers following her appearance in the spine-tingling ITV thriller.

The Game of Thrones star portrays Fiona, alongside Andrew Lincoln's character John, as The Walking Dead icon takes centre stage in the drama, which delves into masculinity and follows a man grappling with his past trauma when it returns to torment him.

Having relocated himself and his family to the rural paradise of Coldwater (a fictitious Scottish village) to distance themselves as much as possible from London following a brutal confrontation and an identity crisis, John discovers himself growing bitter about his restrictive and monotonous existence as a stay-at-home father in middle age.

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Despite yearning for a more peaceful future for his family, he encounters further disruptions when he befriends neighbouring resident Tommy, an apparently delightful chap and dedicated spouse to the local vicar Rebecca, and John discovers himself at the heart of a sequence of disturbing incidents, ensnared in Tommy's trap.

Whilst their own marriage is falling apart, John's wife Fiona becomes increasingly sceptical and doubtful that Tommy is everything he appears to be, reports Glasgow Live.

As John's long-suppressed fury reaches breaking point with catastrophic consequences, he soon finds himself reluctantly beholden to Tommy, whose own terrifying secrets start to surface.

In a new interview, Indira has explained her link to the family set-up of the show, saying: "[The series] goes into the exploration of masculinity, what is required of men, but also of women.

"I was brought up by a working mother, my dad looked after me, so for me it was the norm.

"In today's society, people can say, 'Oh yeah, it's cool to be a working mum or mothers now being the breadwinners in the family,' but I think there's still a bit of a stigma attached to it and shame."

She continued: "That was what intrigued me, and the idea of protecting a long-term marriage.

"You know, how far are we able to go... If you've been with somebody for a really long time, how dark are you prepared to go to save it?"

Ahead of the series airing, Andrew admitted he originally said no to the script twice before changing his mind.

"I thought this is going to be frightening, this is going to be difficult to thread the needle, and I think I'll probably learn something doing this part and grow a bit," he added.

In comparison to his best-known role in zombie series The Walking Dead as Rick Grimes, Andrew called Coldwater "a palate cleanser", saying it was a great opportunity to "play something that is diametrically opposed to an archetype of a hero, and to look at another version of masculinity".

He said: "I'm a bit worried about that word because I think we can get in trouble - it's just a middle aged man that is struggling with his place in the world."

Coldwater is available to watch on ITVX.