No conversation with Emily Hampshire is possible without bringing up Schitt’s Creek from the word go. Emily — who plays the sarcastic and spunky Stevie Budd, one of the principal characters in the smash-hit sitcom — now shifts gears to slip into the part of a confident Victorian Era woman in Chapelwaite. Set to stream in India — with the US — from August 23 on SonyLIV, the 10-episode horror series is based on Stephen King’s short story Jerusalem’s Lot, and co-stars Oscar winner Adrien Brody.

Over a late evening video call from the US, Emily chatted with The Telegraph on being Rebecca in Chapelwaite and the phenomenon called Schitt’s Creek....

Emily, I am a big, big fan of Stevie. I keep going back to Schitt’s Creek time and again, especially when I need a pick-me-up. And I did watch a couple of episodes of Chapelwaite and it’s so different from Schitt’s Creek!

Oh, completely opposite! I suggest that if you get a little too scared watching Chapelwaite, you can just go back for a little bit of Schitt’s Creek... like a palate cleanser, you know! (Laughs) And then you can use Chapelwaite as an aperitif and be scared again!

That seems like a great menu! I understand that Chapelwaite would have a lot of boxes for you to tick, but what were the primary reasons for you to want to do this show?

I have to credit my agent, who has actually been my agent since I was a kid. When I was growing up, we had these things called mini-series, and they were usually set on a farm in the 1800s, and I would get parts like ‘the mother of seven children’ when I was 15! (Laughs) I actually did a bunch of them, grew up and moved on and then Schitt’s Creek happened and a whole lot of things changed.

When Schitt’s Creek ended, my agent said, ‘I want you out of those plaids and baggy jeans (a Stevie staple) and back in a corset! (Laughs) So that was the first thing. I had just sold my own show, that I am a writer on for the first time, and I was reading Stephen King’s book called On Writing, in which he offers tips on how to be a writer. And I was literally reading that book when the script of Chapelwaite came in.

Emily Hampshire as Rebecca in Chapelwaite, streaming on SonyLIV from August 23. © 2021 Sony Pictures Entertainment. All Rights Reserved

I read it and this part of Rebecca that was offered to me... she’s a writer in a Stephen King adaptation! When I went back to read Jerusalem’s Lot, which is the Stephen King short story that Chapelwaite is based on, I realised that there is no Rebecca Morgan in that; she’s a creation for the show. I don’t know Stephen King personally, but I do know that he likes to put writers in his stories, but this one doesn’t have one. So I feel that Rebecca Morgan is basically a female Stephen King in a gothic horror of the 1850s!

I wonder what Stephen King will think of that!

Well, I hope he’s okay with that because I don’t want him to write a story where bad things happen to me! (Laughs)

Rebecca, despite being a woman in the 1800s, is spunky and has a mind of her own and in one of the episodes, she kind of describes herself as too individualistic in a town where everyone is expected to conform. Does she resonate with you?

I loved that you noticed that line! What I realised about Rebecca is that though she is from that time, she is ahead of her time. She talks about the difficulties of pushing past the paradigms that are set for women in those times... and honestly, nothing has changed! (Laughs) It’s a line that 100 per cent resonates with me. Things are definitely changing, but I love that the Filari brothers (Peter and Jason Filardi, the writers of Chapelwaite) put a woman like this right at the front and centre of their story. She’s also the one who tells the story, which is not usually the case.

I think I aspire to be like Rebecca. She’s a lot braver than me. If a vampire runs this way, I would go that way (points in the opposite direction). She was educated at Mount Holyoke, this college that I didn’t know about and which I researched about and found was the first college that allowed trans-women to attend. I really want to find a period of time where I can go as an adult student because I never really went to college. So yes, I aspire to be like Rebecca. I also admire the fact that she’s a woman who doesn’t just want to get married and have kids. That wasn’t normal in her time. I think this character will do good for the women out there when they watch her.

So safe to say you aren’t a horror buff?

I am not much of a horror buff, but I am very much into true crime, which is kind of close but worse! (Laughs) But I do love psychological horror. The question at the centre of Chapelwaite is, ‘Can the sins of the father be passed on?’ Charles (Boone, played by Adrien Brody) is struggling with questions like, ‘Is this real? Am I crazy?’ I love that struggle because I think it’s very relevant. The only thing missing in the 1850s was for Charles to have a great therapist! (Laughs)

Apparently the house you shot in had some sort of a sordid past. What was that about?

Oh, it was just plain haunted! They have a plaque on the wall talking about the families that lived there. And you read, ‘Oh, this family lived here... and five of them died! Oh, this family lived here and the mother and father died!’ (Laughs) It’s just so tragic and I shouldn’t be laughing about it but we would be sitting there and we would think there’s someone there, but there would be no one!

You didn’t have to do much acting out there, did you?

Oh, no! Oh, it was a method actor house. The house that played Chapelwaite was Daniel Day-Lewis! (Cracks up)

You started out very young and you have seen the acting business evolve. How have things changed for you?

Now I have the luxury of getting to pick parts. And this has happened only recently. For me, the greatest success that I have had as an actor has been choice. I can now choose the projects I want to do. I have been very lucky to be an actor for almost all my life, and make a living out of it... that’s rare (smiles). At the beginning, you have to take what you get.

But I was lucky that I started in Canada and you don’t have a star system there. The silver lining to that is that you get to work a lot and hone your craft without being put on any kind of pedestal. You are kind of a blue-collar worker. That was so good for me, to learn and to be able to be the lead in 10 movies that went to film festivals.

With Daniel Levy in the final episode of Schitt’s Creek

So when Schitt’s Creek out of nowhere became such a huge success and we were on those red carpets, I could say, ‘Oh, I have been here before!’ I know those ups and downs, on a smaller scale. When you do a show like Schitt’s Creek that affects so many people in a positive way and you get DMs saying how it has changed lives, it’s difficult to go on to do anything less than that. I feel Chapelwaite came to me at the right time.

You’ve done a lot of work, but for most you will always be Stevie from Schitt’s Creek. Is that annoying sometimes?

It makes me so happy! The only thing that’s bad about it is that when people call out ‘Stevie’ on the road, I end up being more excited than them! (Laughs) When I was shooting Schitt’s Creek, I was also doing a show called 12 Monkeys and I play a crazy person in that. I get a lot of mail from India for 12 Monkeys, by the way.

So ya, getting back to Schitt’s Creek, a couple of times a month, I text Dan (Daniel Levy, the creator of the show who plays David) and say, ‘I miss Stevie! I miss David!’ We miss that show a lot. So when people ask me why we aren’t doing another season, I tell them, ‘It’s harder for me.’ But I also feel that it was just a perfect, perfect moment in time when Dan decided to take that huge decision to end it. For many people, that show is just like family.