Dr Foster's Suranne Jones revealed that new motherhood influenced how she played scorned wife in second series

After an explosive first series in 2015, popular BBC drama Doctor Foster written by Mike Bartlett will return to our screens very soon and we can’t wait.

Actress Suranne Jones reprises her role as scorned GP Gemma Foster whose cheating husband Simon (played by Bertie Carvel) had an affair with much younger mistress Kate Parks (played by Jodie Comer). Their affair was exposed during an intense dinner at the end of the last series and all fans could talk about was ‘that slap’.

In the new series the couple return to Simon’s hometown of Parminster after spending two years banished away in London, leaving Gemma stunned.

In the action packed trailer recently released by the BBC, this series looks set to be just as exciting. Gemma can be seen asking if Simon has “come to get rid of her” as the pair reunite on-screen while Kate can be heard saying: “Hopefully it will be peace and quiet from now on.”

So what can viewers expect from series two?

Speaking at the press launch Suranne, 38, revealed: ‘There is still sexual tension between Gemma and Simon, you might hate someone but you have forgotten to tell your Mr (downstairs) about it, and that’s the interesting thing, your head thinks one thing and your body betrays that.

‘Everyone has a relationship, so they know what it’s like to be in a room with an ex-partner, with all those uncomfortable feelings, like when your ex-partner is in a relationship and they’re not.

‘I looked at both the characters in the second series and thought you’re both really hurt and I’d never seen that before, so hopefully men and women will recognise some of themselves in Gemma and Simon.’

Mum-of-one Suranne, who married husband journalist Laurence Akers in 2014 after a whirlwind romance, admitted that having her son last year changed the way she played the role of Gemma in the second series.

She said: ‘I think been a wife and mother made me realise the gravitas of that family unit falling apart because I would go home at night and I’d have a baby to put to bed, so I think it definitely made me realise that when two people get together and have a child out of love, and they split up, what it is to parent a child and be in each other lives.

You are damaged and hurt without damaging and hurting the child.’

And, like all working mums, the brunette star revealed it was difficult going back to work.

Suranne added: ‘Work life balance for everyone is hard and I try to keep work separate, but my son did come to the set and he looked better on camera than I did.

‘I do feel very grateful because I did a lot of work before he was born and now I have taken a lot of time off. I’m off until Christmas now and back in my Converse.’

And despite the on screen tensions, Lancashire-born Suranne’s relationship with Jodie, 24, and Bertie, 39, is much happier in real-life.

She continued: ‘Jodie is brilliant to be around on set, so when you are able to have great relationships off set, you are able to do lots of stuff and go to really dark deep places on camera.’

And, it seems it wasn’t all work and no play behind the scenes, former Coronation Street star Suranne confessed: ‘I was training for sponsored plank for charity, so I had a plank squad, and I was exercising on set because Gemma takes her clothes off at one point and I’d just had a baby, so planking helped and Bertie planked with us.

‘He did five minutes without even trying, which was really annoying, but impressive and off set I had a brilliant team of girls and we sang songs and put music on.’

Whatever happens, this series looks set to be even more gripping.

Doctor Foster returns to BBC One in September.