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Dervla Kirwan plays Claire Maxwell

The second series of 55 Degrees North finds ballsy CPS lawyer Claire Maxwell walking a tightrope, juggling motherhood with a busy career.

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And it's a balancing act that couldn't be more apt for Dervla Kirwan. Last year, just after signing on the dotted line to play Claire, the Dublin-born actress discovered she was expecting her first child by her partner Rupert Penry-Jones, star of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ spy drama Spooks.

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Her real-life pregnancy was promptly written into the script and a year on, Dervla is the proud - but exhausted - mum of Florence - while her on-screen persona, Claire, is adapting to life as a working mum with her baby, Emmy.

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"It's great that the writer [Timothy Prager] has tapped into what has been happening in my life and transferred it onto the screen. It's very nice to actually be utterly knackered and to be able to play utterly knackered on screen as well.

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"I didn't need any make-up or anything to look like a worn out new mum, because that's exactly what I am," laughs Dervla.

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"I don't think Claire deals with having a baby as well as I do. Yes, I'm very hard on myself and I'm always doing things wrong, but I also understand that you aren't given a parenting manual when you come onto this earth and you've got to try and learn from your mistakes.

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"Claire totally misses that point. She is the absolute personification of an uptight perfectionist, and full of her own self importance. She doesn't cope very well with being a mum and then hates that about herself."

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Having her own mother, Jocelyn, to stay (Dearbhla Molloy), doesn't make Claire's life any easier. She has always put her career first, but her new baby has added confusion to her life, albeit welcome confusion.

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Rather than helping Claire, Jocelyn only makes her daughter feel guilty about being a working mother. "Claire has always been very driven when it comes to her career and I can relate to that.

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"I mean, I wouldn't push another actress down the stairs in order to get a job, but I do want to be the best that I can in my own profession and so does Claire. Who wants to be crap at their job?

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"But having her mum around knocks Claire's confidence because Jocelyn is constantly niggling away at her about going to work, implying she should be staying at home with Emmy.

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"But she's a single mum, someone's got to pay the bills haven't they?" points out Dervla, who has rarely been off our screens since her first TV role aged 15 in the hard-hitting ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ drama Troubles.

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But it was Goodnight Sweetheart and Ballykissangel that made her a star - and more recently she has been seen in Casanova, The Deputy and Hearts & Bones.

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"Theirs is a typical mother and daughter relationship and as the series progresses Claire and Jocelyn have some very funny scenes together. At times they're very similar to the way I am with my own parents - you know, where they wind you up so much you just fly off the handle and let rip.

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"There seems to be an unwritten rule that you can rant at your family in a way you would never do with your friends. Especially in an Irish family, where you're lucky to get a word in edgeways."

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Someone Claire doesn't want to be one of the family is Emmy's father, Wren (Brian Protheroe), whom she's determined to keep at a distance.

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Explains Dervla: "She totally freezes him out. She doesn't want his money, his interference, or him in her life, which is a pretty tough deal I think. Obviously when she was having an affair with him - a married man - she hadn't realised the profound effect it was going to have on her life."

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When it comes to her relationship with Nicky (Don Gilet), Claire blows hot and cold. She still has a deep affection for the handsome cop but we're never quite sure what ambitious Claire wants out of her romantic life.

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One thing's for sure though, she has put her job and her baby first and doesn't have time to commit to anyone else, even if she wanted to.

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"It seems to be circumstances that are keeping them apart. Nicky has a lot going on in his home life and she does have a newborn baby with another man and that's a big thing for him to take on board.

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"Errol is very suspicious of her and I can understand that. Claire Maxwell doesn't do herself any favours. She's not the warmest of women and she very rarely smiles. Errol just doesn't want Nicky to get hurt."

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After six months filming in Newcastle, Dervla is staying nearer to home in London for her next job. She'll be fulfilling a lifelong ambition to appear at the National Theatre this summer when she stars in the Brian Friel play Aristocrats, alongside Gina McKee.

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And with her days free, it means she'll have more time to spend with baby Florence.

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So, is her daughter showing any early signs of following in her parents' thespian footsteps? "Well, she can't speak yet - which is always a bit of a drawback when you want to become an actor!" laughs Dervla.

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"If she did end up having a talent for it then I'd want her to go into it with her eyes open. It's a very tough business if you're deluding yourself about your ability. At this stage I just want her to be happy, enjoy life and be a good, fully-rounded, functional human being."

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Dervla reveals: "I was chucked out of my convent for wanting to be an actress, which was a terrible form of rejection. It says an awful lot about Ireland in the Eighties that acting was not seen as a respectable female profession. But as I get older..." she adds, with a big grin. "I think they were right - it's not!"