Anna Friel got a dog because she was so "lonely" working on her new TV show.
The 43-year-old actress – who has daughter Gracie, 14, with former partner David Thewlis – shot ‘Deep Water’ in the Lake District and though it was a "beautiful" setting, she felt very isolated and ended up finding a canine pal to keep her company as she’d never spent so much time alone.
She said: "It was beautiful but it rained nearly every day and we never got to go out for a drink once.
"There was no phone signal.
"It was refreshing and healthy for our minds but as far as keeping in contact with the outside world, it wasn’t easy.
"It was six hours door to door for me to get to Gracie.
"I spent more time on my own than I probably ever have.
"Most evenings or weekends, I didn’t see anyone. It was quite a lonely experience – that’s not being negative, just honest.
"When Gracie came, I just said, ‘Shall we go and get a dog?’ I got myself a pomapoo called Eunice!"
Anna got some experience with dogs while shooting the drama but admitted they weren’t very easy to handle.
She told Britain’s OK! magazine: "I did have to handle two dalmatians and you’re not meant to put them together as they both want to dominate.
"There was a lot of driving around in the car and we had to keep the windows up because of the sound recordings so the aroma was breath-taking."
The actress has a sex scene in the show and the hardest part of shooting the intimate moment was trying to stay warm.
She said: "I had nothing on underneath the dress to keep me warm – not even Spanx.
"We had a wonderful wardrobe team who gave us hot water bottles in between takes but we all got used to being cold."
Anna Friel got dog to stave off loneliness
