Sharon Horgan says she only found confidence after Bad Sisters series two

Bafta award-winning actor, writer, producer and director Sharon Horgan has told an audience at the Hay Festival she finally found confidence after the second series of her hit show Bad Sisters came out last year.

The star, whose back catalogue includes sitcoms Catastrophe, Pulling and Motherland, said she previously thought "there was a possibility I was just in the right place at the right time, or that I had the right people around.

"But I think with Bad Sisters, even though there's a huge team of people, it felt like mine. That feeling I belonged in that room."

Bad Sisters, an adaptation of Belgian series Clan on Apple TV+, is a revenge tale about sisters aiming to kill an abusive husband.

Since then, her career has continued to thrive and she has juggled multiple roles on many of her shows ranging from executive producer to actor to writer and even director.

But she admitted her perfectionism had occasionally caused an issue on set.

"I'm trying to get better at it. It's also about having people around you that you really trust almost as much as you trust yourself. But I remember being pulled up on it by a big star in a show I did, just going: 'Don't you think all of these people can do their jobs? You think you can do your job better than all these people?'

"And I remember at the time thinking, 'I can't say this out loud,' but 'yes'!" she laughed.

At the end of her discussion, Horgan is asked which of her characters she'd most like to be. She plumps for Sharon Morris from Catastrophe.

Despite her obvious success and new-found confidence, Horgan's admiration for Morris, a funny, brave and strikingly honest woman just doing her best, is clear.

"Even though she's selfish and can be awful... she was just able to articulate how she was feeling," she said.

"I think that's the great thing about writing. You get to say all those conversations that you have in your head and you wish you'd said. She had all my thoughts, the thoughts I was afraid to say at the time."