Six-part thriller follows a British and Australian detective who are forced to work together to solve the murder of a UK politician’s daughter in Sydney

​When it comes to tackling gritty storylines, few actors do it better than Joanne Froggatt.

She first made a mark as troubled teenager Zoe Tattersall in Coronation Street in the late 1990s. She stayed with the soap for a year, during which time she ran away from a care home, lived rough on the streets, handed her baby over to a childless couple, took it back and dealt with its death before leaving Weatherfield with a cult.

Since then she’s appeared in Bad Girls, played various real-life women who found themselves caught up in crimes, tackled the role of a woman struggling to prove she’s been raped in Liar, and lady’s maid Anna in Downton Abbey.

It was the latter that really made her name, both at home and abroad, something she’s keen to acknowledge.

“Downton Abbey has changed my life,” she once told the Radio Times. “Having opportunities to do amazing things like tour the White House came from doing that show, and I’ll always be grateful.”

Anna was somebody else who faced numerous problems, including a campaign of hate against her and the man who would eventually become her husband, valet Mr Bates. After playing such challenging roles, it’s understandable that Froggatt likes nothing better than putting her feet up at home and watching some TV – although not necessarily her own work.

“I love watching drama, but at the end of the day, if I’ve been filming, or on stage, I come home and watch a documentary,” she remarks. “That takes me out of my head as I completely empathise with what’s going on in real life.

“As we know, sometimes real life is stranger than fiction. It grounds me back into reality and makes me really appreciate where I am and what I’ve got.”

Froggatt’s latest project takes her in a new direction. For once, she isn’t a troubled soul, although getting caught up in a crime in a foreign country may cause more than a few problems.

“Australian and British culture is interesting,” claimed Froggatt’s co-star, Kim Sturgess, while speaking to Bandt website. “We Australians come from the Brits, and there’s so much that is similar, culturally. But when you are so similar, it makes the differences really stand out. And they’re quite stark.”

In North Shore, a new six-part crime thriller originally available last month via the streaming service ITVX, Froggatt plays British politician Abigail Crawford, while Game of Thrones star John Bradley takes the role of Max Drummond, a British detective sent to Australia to investigate the mysterious death of a UK teen; her body has been found in the waters of Sydney Harbour.

Unfortunately, his relationship with the local police doesn’t make life easy – they are constantly butting heads, their cultural differences threatening any progress. All involved will have to push their personal issues to one side if they’re to successfully uncover the killer’s identity, but that proves to be easier said than done.

Dan Spielman, Matt Passmore and former Neighbours resident Kristian Schmid are among the supporting cast.