Nicola Coughlan believes society needs to do more to tackle toxic masculinity.

The 39-year-old actress spent months studying the subject while preparing for her role in new two-part drama I Am Helen, and she expressed her frustration that too much emphasis is placed on women protecting their own safety rather than educating men and tackling their behaviour.

Asked if she thinks society is doing enough about toxic masculinity, she told Deadline: "No I don't.

"It's clear that toxic masculinity is on the rise among young men. So much responsibility is placed on young women to stay safe and protect themselves from dangerous situations, but we also need to ask who the perpetrators are."

I Am Helen - which has been created by Dominic Savage - sees Nicola portray the titular character opposite Joe Cole as her partner Steve, a man taking out his frustrations with his everyday life on his girlfriend.

And it was important for those involved in the show to tell a relatable story, rather than delve into the extremes of the manosphere.

Nicola said: "Hopefully [I Am Helen] shows two real people whom viewers might recognise in themselves or in their friends.

"It isn't heightened or unrealistic. Joe Cole's character, Steve, isn't a caricature of a bad guy.

"Helen is an ordinary woman who's been in this relationship for a long time. I hope that normality speaks to people."

And while Joe "went down the rabbit hole of the so-called manosphere", he found it more useful in his research to look at videos from men with slightly more toned-down views.

He said: "They might be pickup artists or talk about self-improvement.

"They might seem reasonable, but every now and then they'll say something a little off-key like, 'A woman should provide for me and stay at home'.

"We're trying to show how a relatively normal person can be influenced by this stuff because life isn't going the way they imagined."

Filming was done chronologically and semi-improvised, and Joe admitted it was particularly challenging for him because while Nicola's "belief system" was roughly the same as that of her character's, his is widely different to his alter ego's.

He said: "I figured this out as I went. Nicola brings a lot of energy and asks a lot of questions; she contributes so much to the scenes [as Helen]. Steve can't always articulate himself as well, so that yin and yang worked really well."

But Nicola found the improvisation "terrifying" but also very "freeing".

She said: "It was terrifying because you're really hoping you don't have an off day.

"As actors, we rely on the dialogue writers give us as an anchor, and you think, 'If I can't improvise well today, is this just going to be terrible?' At the same time, it was incredibly freeing. The process was very different. The crew was tiny so everyone was involved."