Maimie McCoy talks The Musketeers: 'Don't call Milady a bad girl' 

doesn\'t miss a beat this Friday night, leaping straight into another rip-roaring adventure with \'Emilie\' - the tale of a peasant woman, and apparent prophet, bent on war with Spain.

In this time of crisis, the petulant King Louis (Ryan Gage) is otherwise engaged with his new mistress - Athos\'s one-time beloved and the Cardinal\'s one-time partner-in-crime, Milady de Winter (

Ahead of the series\' return, McCoy spoke to Digital Spy about Milady\'s journey this series, fan art and why she hates being called a "bad girl".

Milady made her spectacular comeback in episode two of series two, but what sort of feedback did you get about the character after the first series?

"I try not to think about that side of things - I\'m only trying to make her as human as possible. People call her a \'bad girl\' and I hate that phrase, it\'s a bit of a cop-out... because she is [bad] but she\'s a massively damaged creature.

"I think whenever there\'s a character who\'s had that much abuse and heartbreak in their past, you should start to feel some kind of empathy towards them, or an understanding."

"Yeah, and I think the genre lends itself to that, but what we\'re all trying to do with

is... everybody instils in it such a sense of three-dimensional character, so those initial tags of \'Bad Girl\' or \'Heroic Leader\' or \'The Dutiful Wife\' are shed relatively quickly.

"That\'s what\'s exciting about the second series - particularly with Milady, she goes to a place which I don\'t think a lot of people will expect... so it\'s brilliant for her on that level. It takes her so far away from that initial \'She\'s kick-ass and she\'s bad and we love to hate her\', which seems a bit corny in my book. I\'m trying to make her really visceral and fragile and complicated."

Milady and Athos haven\'t shared many scenes yet this series - what\'s coming up for them?

"It\'s fascinating - that meeting in the forest was not expected from either of them, so there wasn\'t enough time to process anything. But I think she relishes - having been thrown out with her tail between her legs - that she can come back and she uses it to taunt Athos in many ways, but also they\'re constantly drawn back together.

"It\'s about trust with those two. There\'s various moments where they experiment with trying to trust each other and if they can do that, if they can believe what the other\'s saying, almost to get onto a path of forgiveness. It surprises them as well because it\'s not what they\'re expecting to happen.

"Her allegiance changes so much through this series as a means to survive - that survival instinct is very powerful within her and it brings her into contact quite a lot with Athos. Their relationship becomes even more painful and more raw than they\'ve explored before. There are a lot of truths which neither of them particularly want to face, but they have to."

Milady\'s regained a little of her power by charming the King - but do you think she feels any genuine affection for him?

"I think so - I mean, he\'s such a character! There\'s something incredibly attractive about a man in power and with wealth - and he\'s terribly entertaining. There\'s a lot of fun and ridiculousness to be had with him!

"But it\'s also... she was in a great position before with the Cardinal and she had a certain amount of wealth and independence and I think the attractiveness of the clothes, the money, the status...

"Being the King\'s mistress is probably the highest position you could have, so there\'s something wonderful to relish in that and she\'s been down-on-her-luck - when you see her with bandits in the forest, it\'s pretty s**t really."

She still looked great though - her style was very shabby chic...

"Well, I mean, it\'s family BBC. To be honest, if I\'d had it my way, it wouldn\'t have looked like that. But that\'s telly for you! I did find an old fork in the tent and I decided that\'s what I would\'ve stuck in the fire and curled my hair on…

so, come on, everyone\'s very glossy! I don\'t think they\'d allow me to do my \'full Jimmy McGovern\' on this show!"

Do you miss Milady\'s relationship with The Cardinal and your scenes with Peter Capaldi?

"Well, it actually came to quite a natural end. Even if Peter had done the second series, I don\'t think we would\'ve brought them back together because he\'d cut her out and knowing the kind of character he was, he wouldn\'t let her back into his trust or give her that place by his side again.

"Of course, I miss working with Peter but it\'s interesting when I cross paths with Rochefort (Marc Warren) - it\'s probably not what people might expect. I think they might expect me to have a similar relationship as I did with Peter - and it\'s not. She doesn\'t slip into that role as such, it\'s a little bit more complicated than that."

I know fans miss seeing you and Peter together - maybe we should get you a part on

"Well, I\'m unemployed [right now] - just sayin\'!"

Now that Milady\'s taken up a position in the palace, are we going to see her clash with the Queen and Constance?

"She does lord it over the Queen and Constance quite a lot, because she\'s untouchable once she\'s in the palace and in the King\'s favour - but that\'s quite a precious position and that will change. There\'s constant power shifts.

"I think that\'s what happens with a lot of characters - a lot of the relationships change and develop and it\'s about whether you\'re allowed to change and people\'s opinions of you. Particularly with Milady and what everybody thinks of her... because she doesn\'t have any mates, let\'s put it that way!

"Nobody likes her - but she tries to do a lot which is good and decent. It\'s still self-serving - so they\'ll see it as quite selfish - but actually it helps various other people, including the King and the Musketeers."

Do you think viewers will regard Milady differently by the end of this series?

"Possibly - she\'s very different to last year. She\'s on a whole different journey but then I think everybody is, to be honest. I think you have to do that - once everyone\'s invested in you, you\'ve got to take these characters and these relationships somewhere else.

"But yeah, I think people will feel quite sorry for me by the end. There\'s a huge amount to invest in with her - it\'s quite an emotional journey and it should be quite heartfelt by the end. I probably couldn\'t have said that last year."

are a passionate and creative bunch - what\'s the best bit of \'fan expression\' you\'ve seen?

"Oh, the videos are brilliant - I love them. People obviously spend a massive amount of time doing them, as well - picking all of your scenes, all of your looks.

"There\'s a girl... I think she\'s French, and she\'s been doing these really cute cartoons of everyone. Hers are very good. They\'re a very sweet and very supportive lot, the fans.

"I\'ve not done a show like this before and I don\'t even get the half of it. I just get a little bit, but they just go silly about the boys - it is hysterical when I\'ve been doing press with them. Nobody looks at me - it\'s amazing!"

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