Genevieve O’Reilly was looking for a unique story – and she found one with this twisted thriller set in the Rocky Mountains.

Her character Angela Worth was looking for a fresh start in Little Big Bear with husband Jim, daughter Anna and son, Petey, but gets more than she bargained for as she adjusts to life as a stay-at-home mum.

A kind-and-loving woman, Angela was used to marching to the beat of her own drum with the family back in London, and learned to thrive alongside her husband, even with his split personality.

Speaking ahead of season one, O’Reilly talks about Angela’s mindset as we set off on the Tin Star story, working alongside Tim Roth, and the one major thing she missed about England while filming in rural Canada.

When I read the script I thought, I have never read anything like that before. It was really unique. I didn’t really know what it was, but I knew I hadn’t read anything like it. And isn’t that the greatest challenge? To jump when you are not really sure but you really believe it.

I saw the vision in the writing and I saw this world and I couldn’t really put my finger on it. So I kind of wanted to dive in and see what it was.

Yeah. It is tough being away from home for this long. It is tough making decisions that affect your family, I have kids and it is wonderful to have the opportunity but there is always a kickback with that.

However they had their summer holidays out in Canada, so that was cool. It meant that we spent time in the mountains and we went fishing and canoeing. They saw lots of wildlife so there are great things about it too. There are sacrifices that come with every job and then there are bonuses. There are great things and there are s***ty things but I love my job!

Do you know what I miss? I miss digestive biscuits! I like plain digestives, not any of the chocolate or caramel stuff, just the plain biscuit with butter on it and then another digestive biscuit on the top with a cup of tea. I miss that.

My husband and my daughter send me care packages so that is good.

Well the story starts with the family, who have moved to a little town in Canada and they are just trying to make a new start, I guess like so many other people do. There are loads of English, Irish and Scottish people out here so it is something of a well-carved path that this family is on. And we meet them when they are here and just engaged in life.

Angela is trying her best to be a great mum, supporting her husband and working hard to create a good family life… and then tragedy strikes. I guess it is true for all of us that when the chips are down we find out who we really are and that is what we discover through Tin Star.

Well we had a great time together because there is a lot of joy in that episode as well, like the rubber duck race, and we had days in the kitchen. So episode one was quite light and lovely and then the drama hits and then you are just in, there is no time to think about wrapping things up. It is about imagining if that was me, that was my life.

I didn’t expect to be shooting. Early on they took me to a rifle range, I had never been to one before and it is a big thing here. This is hunting territory. Canada has a great history of hunting and shooting its food. That is the culture here.

I never really understood gun culture, because I have never been a part of it, but it is very different to what I understand of the American gun culture, which is quite specifically for shooting and for recreation in their own way. There is no one walking around with them, which is good.

Well I think that after the tragedy they find themselves in a world of uncomfortable questions and in a deeply sad and frightening place. I think that it is in episode five that we see her with a gun for the first time. And it was surprising even for myself to read that. There was a lot of talking with Rowan and Tim about where she had come from and why she would use a gun and what type she would use. It is lovely that the writers and the creators are interested in rich textured characters.

When Jim drinks he slips into his undercover name as a cop, Jack, and he is a dangerous person. I actually think they are working hard as a family to try to keep him sober to look after the family and to get through. I think they have a history with alcoholism and that was the choice that they made together and the promises that they made.

Of course, with the tragedy that all comes crashing down. I think that Angela loves him. I think she loves Jim and I think that she loves Jack. She loves parts of both of them for different reasons. Both of them have things that she wants and desires, and both of them come with shortfalls.

Human beings are so layered, textured, and complicated and we are not always the same person in any given moment.

Tim is in the room over there so I can’t say anything bad… he is awful, really awful. He is lovely and I don’t want to say that too loud. We have a great working relationship. He is really invested in the story and in the creation of the piece and invested in character, invested in my character, invested in ours, invested in how we are telling the story.

We all get on great. It has been a great collaborative experience on the floor, through the scripts, with Rowan and Alison and a truly creative process, which of course is abrasive at times but it is only sometimes through abrasion that the sparks fly and that is when it gets really interesting.

We have really liked the Jim/Jack moments, that transition. We have great fun with playing that. I had a beautiful scene the other day with Abs, she is such an extraordinary young actor, she is a joy to work with.

I love the family stuff, we did a scene here the other night around the table. Angela has cooked some duck and I think that we went through six ducks, it was so funny. We were going on later and later because dinner scenes by their nature take very long to shoot because they are around the table and you need to cover every angle.

So Olly was eating duck after duck after duck and we just started to get the giggles. And one moment he hit a bit of gristle so we were sitting there doing the scene and all we could hear was crunch, crunch, crunch. It was hilarious, it was wonderful to have people around you that you can have fun with.

The day before he had the scene we were sitting around saying what we missed about London and what we would eat if we were back home, and he said that he would go to the Chinese and get crispy duck. Then the next day he went through about five ducks, and we were like, do you still want that crispy duck? Bless him, professional.