The former Coronation Street star returns as D.C. Rachel Bailey alongside Lesley Sharp (Starlings) for Series 3 of the crime drama at 9pm on Wednesday 3 April on ITV.

SPOILER WARNING

Viewers discover in the opening episode of the new series that Rachel is now married to traffic cop Sean McCartney, played by Sean Maguire.

Jones explains: “She knows on the morning of the wedding that she shouldn’t go through with it. The one constant in Rachel’s life is her work. But at the end of the last series work was letting her down and she was very disillusioned with the system. So she hooked on to Sean and made the mistake of marrying her friend. She knew it wasn’t right but it was too late. She’s quite impulsive and thought that maybe it would work out to be fine. I think the audience will go, ‘Why can you not see that he’s a good man and get on with life?’ But that’s not her.”

She added: “She has an addictive personality. She’s addicted to work and danger. Rachel is also clearly damaged by her background, as are her mother and brother.”

Discussing what it is about D.C. Rachel Bailey that appeals to her as an actress, Jones commented: “Nicola Shindler, Head of Red Productions who make the series, texted me the other day and said, ‘Rachel is one of my favourite TV characters because she’s so many layers. She’s angry, warm, immature, intelligent, feisty, lost, funny and brilliant.’ To have all those different strands to play is quite amazing. I hope that, because she’s got those different facets to her personality, people will understand that she is lost and her moral judgment is a bit out.”

> Buy the complete Series 1 & 2 boxset on Amazon.

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