As gritty new Channel 4 crime drama Before We Die prepares to air, Danielle de Wolfe discovers more about the forthcoming series from the cast.

Dysfunctional relationships are regularly looked upon as the perfect breeding ground for dramatic and often sinister on-screen plotlines.

So, when deteriorating family ties and a lacklustre career begin to combine, there really is no telling where a character might end up.

New six-part Channel 4 drama Before We Die is built upon that very premise.

Based on the original Swedish drama of the same name, the investigative crime series delves into the complex mechanics of both work and family life, as a Bristol-based police officer discovers her wayward son is embroiled in the investigation of her colleague's murder.

A dark tale that intertwines drugs, money, murder and domestic upheaval, it soon becomes clear that her son is in fact an undercover informant.

"This is not a police procedural drama," says actress Lesley Sharp, 61, of the series.

"It's a story that has a police show as a framework, but there is a really thrilling, complicated set of dynamics within that structure."

Taking the lead as detective Hannah Laing, Sharp, best known for her roles in Three Girls and The Full Monty, describes the way in which her character comes "face-to-face with who she is" despite "not liking who she sees".

"She's quite damaged," explains Sharp. "She hasn't got the best means of acknowledging or dealing with that, so she doesn't.

"She's a senior police officer coming towards the end of her career, divorced, [has a] troubled relationship with a son in his twenties, and is having a relationship with a work colleague which is also being kept secret."

Failure is a recurring theme that takes many forms throughout this complex series.

From the private lives of the show's central characters to the unfulfilled work aspirations of Sharp's character, Before We Die brings the human need for affirmation to the fore.

"She's failed a little in her career," says Sharp.

"She's failed at her first marriage, she's failed as a mother, and she's sort of running out of time and chances to feel like something in her life is worthwhile.

"And then this show starts."

The detective's son, Christian, played by The OA's Patrick Gibson, is still more troubled - and the characters have a complex relationship.

Busted by his own mother in a nightclub for drug dealing, the series opens shortly after Christian's release from prison after serving a two-year sentence following his conviction.

Gibson, 26, says of Christian: "At the beginning of the show, the only kind of male figure that's in his life is Hannah's current partner, who she's having this relationship with behind closed doors,

"Christian feels the need to prove himself.

"A lot of people say it to him - and he doesn't quite want to admit it to himself or anybody else - but he feels a strong desire to prove himself as a man and as worthy of existing amongst his own family and his mother, who's obviously an incredibly upstanding member of society.

"But I think also on a deeper level, he feels the need to act in a just way in order to gain her love and be deserving of that."

And so Christian continues his career in the drug world - but this time, as an undercover informant.

Employed by the Mimica crime family following their move from Croatia to Bristol, it's a role that leaves Hannah conflicted by her son's involvement in such a dangerous case.

And so enters 300 and Troy actor Vincent Regan, 56, who plays non-conformist investigator Billy Murdoch, an officer on secondment who finds himself working alongside Hannah.

Usually tasked with cases overseen by the National Crime Agency, Billy's Special Forces background and his experience in Eastern European drug rings lends itself to Bristol Police's latest case.

Noting that Before We Die's storyline is very much a case of "shifting sands", the biggest intrigue for Regan came in relation to the adaptation of the series.

"The procedural work the police do in Sweden and in the UK is very different," reflects the actor.

"What you can get away with in Sweden, you can't get away with in the UK, and that would have meant that much of what we as police investigators are trying to do, we wouldn't have been able to do if we followed the same narrative template as the Swedish drama.

"And so we've had to re-evaluate that - it does help with my character being a former spy and working in a slightly murky way, shall we say."

It's a standpoint seconded by Sharp, who describes the new series as "something that's got the [same] bones, but actually, the flesh is different".

"I think it's a really interesting thing to have that blueprint already," interjects Gibson with a nod.

"It's comforting to know that, past the emotional intrigue of it, the actual plot is so strong.

"You kind of know that it's worked before, that was really comforting - and a nice thing to work with and be able to add, like Lesley says, our own flesh onto that."

Before We Die starts on Channel 4 on Wednesday, 9pm.