There is more to this than just a pretty costume drama

Romola hopes audiences will question how hostile and intimidating Marin is towards her new sister-in-law when she first meets her.

“Marin needs Nella a lot to maintain the appearance of being a normal household,” the Atonement star continues. “But it’s also very important that Nella is afraid of her so that she doesn’t try digging and discovering the secrets that they are all trying to keep – because if anyone finds out, their futures are ruined.”

For Anya, acting out the frosty dialogue between her character and Marin presented some challenges.

“There were moments when it was hard not to smile because Marin was just being so awful to Nella, and I loved it, but I had to keep a straight face,” she reveals.

But what about the dynamic between the newly-married couple? Well, Alex, 37, who plays Johannes, reckons it will keep viewers guessing. “Nella and Johannes’ relationship is so interesting because ostensibly they seem like a perfect period drama couple. She’s young and naive and he’s older and more worldly and brooding, and there are lots of stories we’ve seen before like that,” says the Essex-born actor, probably best known for his work on stage, including roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. “But he’s just not around and he doesn’t pay her much attention. He’s polite and charming but not really present or seemingly attracted to her, which will hopefully intrigue audiences.” THE Miniaturist is clearly a period drama, but written in modern times – something which Anya believes will help make the characters relevant to viewers.

“At the centre of it, you have characters with incredibly strong relationships,” she says. “They are real people and they are not stereotypical.

“I think that streak of affection and familial love between them is something that we all want to see a bit more of in this day and age.”

Alex adds: “It’s a household of minorities who are all protecting each other, and it’s them against the world, which is very contemporary.”

He also notes how The Miniaturist “veers away from the norm in terms of the gender politics and sexual politics and relationships”.

And Romola, who has appeared in many historical pieces, suggests there’s something very unusual about this particular story.

“I hope people will sit down to watch the show because it’s a pretty costume drama,” she says, “and will be surprised that it is actually rebellious and constantly bringing up important issues.” WITH period dramas comes the predicament of potentially tricky outfits – and it seems Anya learnt that the hard way.

“I was on set every second, every day, so that definitely felt like I was going through ‘corset training 101’ or something,” she quips. “But it was an awesome experience and the costumes were beautiful.”

Another slight hurdle for the cast to overcome was filming serious scenes with a “wonderful” but “completely hopeless” dog called Mr Scraps.

“He could only do the things he needed to do, like attack someone’s leg or bark at a certain point, to the sound of flushing toilets,” Romola recalls with a chuckle.

There’s one last burning question for the stars of The Miniaturist: Did they get to keep the incredibly life-like mini figurines that Nella finds inside the cabinet?

“No, which is sort of a mixed blessing, because she’s quite scary,” Romola admits.

“But we were laughing before, and saying that, if you do costume dramas, it’s the closest you can come to having a sort of superhero action figure.”