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When we caught up with her during rehearsals she was, however, a little nervous about returning to her old stomping ground.

“people in the street say – you were in Shameless - and I think crikey, I've really got to pull out all the stops. But it’s just so nice to be back, the audiences here are lovely. It’s only been this long because this is the first job I've been offered!”

“I'm not very good at playing weak women,” she chuckles,

”I just can't relate. I am interested in strong women, I think we're very under represented in the arts world. You want to play parts that inspire people. We have a hard enough time as it is without being simpering wimps.”

Kate O'Flynn and Maxine Peake

Are there enough of those roles out there though?

“I definitely don't think there are enough strong female roles. They're always classed as being a bit brassy or a bit tarty – it’s like you can't be strong without dropping your pants or something. It’s all about rubbish over what's classed as attractive. I think there's nothing more attractive than a strong woman who knows her mind - and I think most men would say that that's very sexy. I think we have a strange view - it’s all a bit coquettish for my liking.”

Despite this, there's plenty of scope for Maxine to get her teeth into “The Children’s Hour”. It's about two women running a girls school in New England, whose lives are torn apart by a disgruntled student. Maxine is enthused about the part she plays, Karen Wright,

“there's one male part in it - how many plays do you get where there's loads of men and one female part? Mary the main girl is a fantastic character, she's outrageous. And Karen and Martha, they're two women who have sacrificed a lot. They're dedicated teachers and they know the importance of education for young women. That's what's so sad, everything seems to be going right, they're idealistic, they're intelligent, they're doing something for the greater good and it gets stripped away from them.”

Kate O'Flynn as Mary Tilford (centre)

The teachers are accused of having a lesbian affair – pretty controversial in the 1930's. Although many of those taboos have long since broken down, the actress feels today's audiences will still feel a huge impact,

“It's such a well crafted play, it's a bit of a thriller actually, like (Arthur Miller's) Crucible. It's about people's lives being destroyed by a lie, it's about mass hysteria and how things get out of control and that's still relevant for today.”

Offstage, Maxine's certainly got things under control. She's built up an impressive body of work which she's very modest about - putting her success in Shameless down to the show itself rather than her part in it. She might be modest, but she's got a very determined streak - exemplified by the fact that, after struggling for three years to get into drama school she secured a place at RADA. It's this steely determination, with a small pinch of fear that runs right through her work;

Maxine Peake as Karen Wright

“You've got to do something that makes you tick and stimulates you as a performer. I think you do your best work when you get a script and you think, I'm never going to pull this off”. 

“I'm always frightened that I'm going to fail and usually I watch things and I think I have. It's a gamble - I suppose acting’s the same buzz you get when you do gamble – it could all go terribly wrong. “

It’s a risky strategy – but then if you take the risks, you reap the rewards as Maxine – and her audiences - well know.

The Children's Hour is on at the Royal Exchange Theatre until April 5