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What initially attracted you to the role of Sugar?

I was very attracted to the novel. I had read it before and loved it. I thought Sugar was a fantastically interesting creation because she encapsulates quite a lot of contemporary concerns relating to women, power and sexuality.

I thought these themes were discussed quite honestly and accurately in the adaptation, which is not always the case, especially in television and film adaptations about prostitution.

Marc Munden, who's directing the piece, is one of the best directors I think I've ever worked with, so I was extremely keen to get to work with him too.

You mentioned power, and that's a very interesting theme throughout the book.

Lucinda (Coxon's) adaptation is exceptional because she writes incredibly clearly about the problems associated with women's power being connected with their ability to sell their bodies. Apparently as a woman, you're able to use your body to control men; I still believe that that is principally a mirage, that power still rests largely with the men paying you, than it does with the woman being paid. The book expresses that idea really strongly.

I also think its interesting that halfway through the story Sugar gives up prostitution to become a governess and a sort of pseudo-mother figure, for the central male character, William Rackham, and it's then the story really changes and starts to discuss how little power she has in that role.

I think there may be women today who have children who are stay–at–home mums who might hopefully relate to that element of the story: of still being undervalued, unpaid, not really being given the kind of support and recognition that they need to make our society see them as truly gender equals.

All of those ideas have a modern resonance and are expressed in the adaptation and I hope people will respond to those aspects of the drama.

The novel was written in the 21st century and therefore looks at the Victorian period through a modern lens. How do you feel that influences the drama?

It's a book about late Victorian England and it expresses lots of hidden elements of that period which you don't see in adaptations or in novels of the period, especially sex and religion, two huge aspects of Victorian Britain.

For me its main concern is a contemporary one, the relationship between men and women and the power struggles going on between them; they were skirmishes in Victorian Britain, they weren't battles, because the idea, the concept that women would have equality was so foreign to that society that that there weren't women fighting for it in the same way because it was a completely alien concept.

I think you know that the central concern is definitely more of a contemporary concern, because obviously we live in a generation of women who can see equality as an ideal and who are concerned with that, and so I would say it's more modern than historical in its interests.

Sugar and William play a cat and mouse game of sorts throughout the drama; how would you describe their relationship?

At the beginning of the story, Sugar has become something of a "destination prostitute", which means she has a certain amount of power; that she can pick and choose her clients.

As far as Sugar is concerned this is a pretty enviable position, but like a lot of women in her situation she wants to get off the street, she wants to be a mistress, because that gives her a better quality of life.

That's her main goal and she meets William Rackham who has a lot of money, he's the heir to a soap manufacturing empire, and he's also someone that she thinks is quite stupid, on some levels she finds him entertaining, but she definitely doesn't respect him, and so she thinks that he is someone that she can use.

Sugar makes a terrible error in judgement there, because he turns out to have a lot more acumen and style than she gives him credit for, and also he turns out to be much more appealing than she had first thought.

When she switches her lifestyle, when she stops having other clients, she stops seeing him as a client and starts seeing him as a man, then she falls in love with him. As soon as she falls in love with him she steadily loses all of her power, she has no ability to protect herself emotionally, and really I think that's what's interesting about this story.

The minute Sugar does that, that's really where her loss of power takes place. Michel Faber has set up such an interesting journey which is represented in the adaptation, and in the drama that we've made, where Sugar starts off in a position that a lot of women would say is obviously lacking in any power – being a prostitute – and trades it for a position for a woman in love, with a typical relationship with a man, which turns out to be a relationship in which she has even less power in.

Sugar has two other interesting relationships in the drama: with Agnes (William's wife) and her own mother. Do you think Sugar loves her mother?

I'm not sure that Sugar can really love; she started to work as a prostitute when she's was 13 and so her emotional capacity is quite limited. Even the way Sugar loves William, or starts to fall in love with William, is a strange mixture of need and fear and desire for material comfort. I'm not sure it's truly selfless, all-embracing, a warm lovely, feeling.

Her mother is someone she can relate to because her mother has the same kind of life as her but when Sugar's mother dies there's a sense that she's losing the only mirror of herself, the only kind of connection to her upbringing and to her previous life and for someone who's constantly trying to reinvent herself I think that's a real loss.

For me that's a very interesting element of the book. You have these three central female characters: Sugar, Agnes, and Mrs Fox – who works for the women's rescue society – and they basically never meet.

Sugar meets Agnes very briefly for a short period of the novel, when she helps her to escape and she meets Mrs Fox – but I only had one scene with Shirley Henderson (who plays Mrs Fox).

That's what is sad about the book: there are three strong women, all fighting for freedom, recognition and the ability to define their own lives, almost totally in isolation. And William's greatest triumph is keeping each of these characters quite separate from each. You feel if they all got together something good could come of it.

Which scenes did you particularly enjoy filming?

It's very difficult to say because I felt more creatively stimulated than I think I probably ever have. I was intellectually engaged and I pretty much spent the entire time earbashing Marc, the director, which I think was really annoying!

I love literature and I enjoyed seeing the set, because I'm obsessed with Victorian literature; to go and visit an environment that was made to look exactly life the East End of London at that point in history pretty much made me want to throw up with excitement! It was like being in a time machine, which was such a thrill for a weird history geek like me.

I love doing the scenes with Amanda Hale, who plays Agnes, because although there aren't very many of them, it's one of the few really positive relationships for Sugar. And Amanda is genuinely one of the best actresses I've ever worked with.

I loved the scene that I did with Shirley as well, for the same reason actually. Those were probably the most enjoyable scenes because they at least had an element of hope in them.

Sugar has some incredible outfits that change drastically as Sugar's relationship with William evolves. Do you think Annie Symons (costume designer) charted Sugar's journey through her wardrobe?

Yes. I think there was something about the job where every department excelled themselves, almost like there was a sort of competition going on! Costume, hair, makeup, and production design all came up with the most extraordinary ideas.

Annie is a genius, the most amazingly brilliant woman. I think the costumes were just extraordinary.

Sugar starts off with relatively large amounts of money, and the way that she dresses is obviously part of her trade; she has this quite extraordinary, vibrant, silhouette. Consisting of very tall hats that are almost like cowboy hats with huge feathers.

The outfits Sugar wears at the start of the drama, you want to touch and feel, made from furs and taffeta offering such a sensory experience.

By the end of the story, it is this day-in-day-out, drab uniform, expressing the mundane existence of being a domestic servant as she looks after William's child.

Annie mentioned how collaboratively she'd worked with the cast on their costumes.

Annie is a really inspiring costume designer, when you talk to her even if you're just having a general chat, she will take what you say and express those things visually.

We were talking about the imagery of the angels in the story and I realised that she'd sewn angel wings on to the back of Sugar's jackets and the buttons on the jacket had little wings on them.

We spoke about how Sugar ends up stuck in the house. Annie was thinking of putting a brooch on the collar of Sugar's uniform and said: "What about something that looks like it's like strangling her? Such as a big bow or a collar?" Suddenly Sugar looks physically buttoned up.

Although you don't want viewers to be distracted within the context of the story, hopefully on a subconscious level people will pick up on those ideas.

For viewers who have a perception of what period dramas, do you think they're in for a shock with The Crimson Petal And The White?

Oh I think so, I hope so! I hope a lot of people sit down with their steak and chips waiting for a gentle evening's viewing with a wedding at the end... and then find themselves open-mouthed!

I think they are in for a shock, but I think they're in for a very enjoyable shock.