Jodie Whittaker plays catch on the set of 'Broadchurch'.

Jodie Whittaker

Jodie Whittaker

The 34-year-old actress portrays bereaved mother Beth Latimer in the ITV drama series and tries to keep things light during breaks from filming in order to save her "intensity" for her scenes.

She said: "There's lots of waiting so I always have a book. I've nearly finished the 'Southern Reach' trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer.

"Even though I've been playing Beth for three seasons, it's still pretty dark. She's lost her child in an awful way.

"There's a field behind the Latimers' house so I've brought a ball and make the crew play catch with me between shots.

"Filming can be quite emotional, so I like to keep moving and out of my head and save the intensity for the camera."

Filming on the drama has been shrouded in secrecy and the cast are given their scripts as late as possible in order to minimise the chances of a leak.

Jodie explained: "We shoot two episodes in a block and we're only given each script just before we film it. It's someone's job at the end of each day to check no one has left their script behind that might end up leaking a spoiler. I've [just] been given the scripts for the last two episodes, so I race back to the flat to read them."

Jodie is thankful she doesn't have to cope with the early starts when filming that her co-stars, Olivia Colman and David Tennant, have to do.

She told Glamour magazine: "I stay in a flat in Bristol when we're filming.

"The show is set in Dorset but the house my character lives in is actually in Somerset.

"Luckily, I don't have an early call time - Olivia and David do all the hard graft - so I have some time to myself in the morning."