Kate O’Flynn has received an Emmy nomination for her supporting role in Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay”, a recognition she describes as overwhelming but meaningful after two decades of work, much of it in British regional theatre. Although she accepts the description of herself as a breakout, she says her experience and life outside acting have given her greater confidence, while the nomination has prompted emotional messages from former colleagues.

O’Flynn said she immediately believed in the horror-comedy’s unusual tone, crediting creator Katie Dippold, director Hiro Murai and the cast for making the project work. Her portrayal of Patricia developed differently from the creators’ original conception and has become popular online; she sees the character as flawed, brave and recognisably strange. O’Flynn will next attend the Toronto festival with Mike Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care”, potentially the director’s final film, after first working with him at 21 on “Happy-Go-Lucky”.