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Sarah Lancashire (Rosemary Nicholls); Juliet Aubrey (Maire Alderton) and Kate Dickie (Isabella Clennell)

For each of the three actresses involved, portraying the mothers of the victims of the Ipswich murders was among the most demanding and emotionally draining experiences of their careers.

"It was one of the hardest jobs I've ever had to do. It was very painful for me. From the moment I read the first script. It was very distressing," said Juliet Aubrey, who plays Maire Alderton, the mother of Anneli.

It was the fact that they were recreating events that were entirely rooted in truth that hit Sarah Lancashire, who plays Rosemary Nicholls, the mother of Annette Nicholls.

"Every move, every word, every gesture was retracing somebody else's steps. In your head you kept thinking 'but this really happened'," she said.

Like the rest of the actresses, Lancashire didn't have any direct contact with the woman she was portraying.

"I didn't meet Rosemary. From what I gather she didn't want to be involved at that level. She is a very private woman," said Lancashire.

But the knowledge that she and the other mothers were supportive of the drama was crucial. "I don't think I would have considered taking on the role had she not been involved and given her blessing," said Lancashire. "Because it's emotionally so exposing for her on a personal level. The events are still very recent. Knowing that Rosemary had been quite closely involved took the weight off the shoulders."

Playing a living person required a great deal of sensitivity nevertheless.

"In a situation like this it's rather tricky as an actor because you have to stick within a set framework. We all know how it ends. There's no need to embellish characters. I had very, very little to go off to be honest. I don't even know what Rosemary looks like.

"To portray her I had to distance myself from who I thought she was and who she was physically to get to the root of who she is emotionally," she says.

"What I did know about her and the family was that they were very close and united and a loving family. So for me, my job was to portray and hopefully bring the essence of who these people are and creating a believable relationship between Rosemary and her daughter.

"The key to it was to tread very carefully and having worked with Philippa [Lowthorpe], Simon [Lewis] and Susan [Hogg] before I knew it was going to be treated with sensitivity and delicacy."

"I have had very brief feedback from Rosemary. And with enormous generosity she thanked me. She sent me her love which was hugely humbling because at the end of the day I'm just an actor doing a role. For Rosemary obviously the connotations are completely different. It's a relief to know that it has her approval."

The families' support also helped Juliet Aubrey through the most difficult days of the filming.

"They were all really emotional scenes. For me, going into the Chapel of Rest to say goodbye to Anneli for the last time was the most difficult scene. There were a lot of tears," says Aubrey. "But because we knew we had the support of the family and we knew there was no sensationalism, it gave it a purpose."

Part of that purpose, they believe, is opening people's eyes to the reality behind the lives of the girls.

Sarah Lancashire admits she was "shocked" at the discovery that drugs were at the heart of the girls' problems.

"This is a world that I have absolutely no knowledge of whatsoever. Drugs are the driving force behind what happened to these girls," she said.

"We were led to believe that they had made a choice but the truth is that they had no choice, it was a set of circumstances. This could happen to anybody."

Lancashire was inspired by the way the women's mothers tried to help their daughters overcome their drug dependency.

"That's what I find extraordinary about Rosemary. She was drawn into a world that was alien to her that she knew nothing about," she adds. "But because of her abiding love for her daughter she was ready to support her and was absolutely determined to do something about it."

As mothers themselves, each of the actresses understood and sympathised with many of the emotions these women went through.

"I'm a mother of a six year old daughter. Isabella is like any of us, we don't know how our children's lives are going to work out. You just have to be there to support them and love them," said Kate Dickie, who plays Isabella Clennell, mother of Paula Clennell.

"I hope people look at this drama and get a glimpse of what these women were like as women, and maybe understand how difficult it is to escape addiction and turn a life around. I hope I have given Isabella the voice she deserves."

Dickie's emotions are echoed by Lancashire.

"I am a mum and have sons who are 21 and 23. The fact that we do have this horrific drug culture in this country is a constant worry. But I can't even begin to imagine how it feels to even watch a child go through what Rosemary watched, let alone have to do what she had to do in identifying her daughter's body," says Lancashire.

The experience of making Five Daughters made all three women appreciate their own families more deeply than ever.

"As a mother myself I tried to imagine what its like to lose your child not once but twice, which is what Maire experienced. The first time she lost her to drugs, the second time she was murdered," says Juliet Aubrey.

"My job as an actor is to try to walk in the shoes of the character I'm playing. Walking in Maire's shoes was traumatic. But I could go home to my family at the end of the day, she couldn't do that. I felt very lucky to come home to my family, I felt very protective of them during the filming."