It is to Bristol, what Sex And The City is to New York. But for the stars of the BBC's Mistresses, which has just finished filming in the city for the second series, it's felt more like being in The Beatles.

All four stars – Sarah Parish, Sharon Small, Shelley Conn and Orla Brady – got on so well during series one that they decided to live together during the filming of the second series, which is due to hit our screens next month.

"Filming on series one was great, so I really loved coming back to Bristol this year," says Sarah, who plays star-crossed Katie.

"We all know each other so well now and the four of us girls lived in one big house in Bristol that has been split into four apartments, so it was like being The Beatles in Help!

"We'd all run up and down the stairs, party in each other's houses and borrow sugar and tea! Great fun."

Twelve months have elapsed and Katie, Trudi, Jessica and Siobhan's friendships remain as strong as ever, despite all their personal trials. Struggling to learn from their past mistakes, the 30-something women face new dilemmas, though the root of their problems remains the same – men and sex.

After her married lover's death and her ill-advised affair with his son, Katie has sworn off men for good and is trying to make some changes in her life, starting with a new direction in her career.

However, retraining at her local hospital throws Katie into the path of two good-looking men; heart surgeon Dan, who appears to offer a chance of lasting stability and happiness, and Jack, an old flame who is her new boss. So has Katie moved on from the problems she suffered at the end of series one?

"The last time we saw Katie she had been suspended from her job for 12 months for indecent conduct," Sarah explains. "She has been away for a year doing medicine abroad and is about to start a new job with the NHS. She is training to be a house officer; which she is probably a bit old and a bit over-qualified for, but for her it is a fresh start.

"She arrives at the huge NHS hospital and gets horribly lost and stumbles across a rather handsome man – who she thinks is a porter. He helps her find her way and also takes a bit of a shine to her.

"It transpires that the person who hired Katie is Jack, her first-ever boyfriend from medical school, who is now her new boss. So, Katie has a potential suitor in the shape of Dan, but there is also an ex-boyfriend on the scene. All this for a woman who has sworn off men!

"It was lovely working with two gorgeous men," she giggles. "They are both fantastic to work with. I had a lot of light, funny stuff with Mark Umbers who plays Dan and some quite heavy stuff with Steven Brand who plays Jack. It was great, they both have a lot of energy about them and we all worked together really well.

"It was a really lovely atmosphere on and off set which made the three months that we filmed the series in Bristol and Bath a very relaxing time."

Yeovil-born Sarah admits she never expected Mistresses to be quite as successful as it was when series one was broadcast last year.

"You never know what to expect," she says. "There were all these comparisons to Sex And The City which we were desperately trying to fight off, but, at the end of the day, Mistresses is about four women and Sex And The City is about four women, so we are all labelled as one and the same, but the shows have very different feels to them. I think people get hooked because Mistresses is so episodic and there are so many things going on. Your interest is always kept up on a high because there are four stories happening at once. It's one of those shows where you are desperate to find out what's happening next. I think people enjoy it because it's easy watching. You can completely switch off and you are constantly given colour and fun all the time."

So what response do the girls get from people in the streets of Bristol?

"We get a lot of comments from men," Sarah says. "The local butcher loved the show and was asking me about the storylines. I expected Mistresses to be something that attracted women, but men seem to love it, too."

Sarah says filming series two has been particularly good fun.

"My personal highlight has to be learning to foxtrot with Mark Umbers," she says. "We danced at Jessica's wedding and Mark tried to teach me to do it properly. I was absolutely hopeless. Poor Mark had to drag me around the dance floor!

"In fact, that whole day was my highlight. We had a great time filming the wedding scenes. It's rare to get the whole cast together so we really enjoyed ourselves."

Mistresses will reach our screens in mid-February