A THELWALL youngster has appeared alongside a Downton Abbey actor in her first role in a major drama.

Eight-year-old Amelia Clarke is in BBC’s Murdered For Being Different.

The shocking one-hour drama directed by Paul Andrew Williams, who was also behind the camera for the latest series of Broadchurch, was made to mark 10 years since the murder of Sophie Lancaster.

Sophie was kicked to death by a gang of youths in Bacup while her boyfriend Robert Maltby was left with permanent brain damage – simply for being goths.

Amelia, who attends Grappenhall Heys Primary School, plays Sam, the younger sister of Michael Gorman (Reiss Jarvis) who witnesses and becomes implicated in the brutal attack.

Jill Clarke, Amelia’s mum, said: “They’d be looking for Amelia’s part for quite a while. Sophie McShera, who plays Amelia’s mum, said they couldn’t find anybody who fit the bill until she came along.

“She’s from Downton Abbey and was so good with Amelia.

“They wanted real people. Reiss Jarvis who plays Amelia’s brother in it had never done any acting before. They wanted somebody who was northern and could be believable as a kid who got themselves into a gang and got themselves into a mess.

“It was similar with Amelia. They wanted a little girl who wasn’t used to being on set.

“When the role came about it was a non-speaking part and it was only when she got on set that Paul saw she was doing well and decided to give her some lines.

“Paul said she took direction really well for someone who hadn’t been on set before.

“She wasn’t fazed at all but I was in awe when all these famous people kept pitching up.”

Amelia filmed her scenes in Bacup over a week.

Jill, of Stockport Road, added: “It’s difficult to send your daughter on set for a story like this.

"I had the scripts so I knew she wasn’t going to be directly involved but she was a part of making it and understands how awful it was.

"We just said to Amelia at least you’re helping people understand how wrong it is.

"As a parent you normally have to sit in the background but because of the content of it I asked to be around in case anything happened or she wanted to talk about any of it.

“At that point I didn’t know if she’d see the make-up of after the attack. The only thing that confused Amelia was when Reiss’s character lied to the police.

"She kept saying you’re not allowed to lie to the police and we explained that he was scared because he was worried about what would happen to his family or himself.

“I’ve got a 12-year-old, Charlie, and I don’t think I would show him it because it’s too horrific. But really they probably should know that stuff like that goes on. It’s real life.”

Amelia, who got talent spotted by Scream Management at Warrington’s Little Stars stage school, is already busy with her next part. She is in BBC’s Home From Home starring Johnny Vegas which is being filmed in Cumbria.

Amelia was also shortlisted for a role in The Current War, a film about Thomas Edison starring Benedict Cumberbatch. And she got an audition for the part of young Ophelia in the remake of Hamlet starring The Force Awakens’ Daisy Ridley.

Murdered For Being Different is currently on BBC iPlayer and is due to air to millions of viewers on BBC One at 10.45pm on Thursday, July 13.

But due to the subject matter a family viewing is out of the question.

Jill said: “It’s hard because Amelia can’t watch it and all my family have watched it already on iPlayer because they just couldn’t wait.

"Amelia kept coming home and saying: ‘No one believes I’m on TV’ because it’s not like a programme her friends could put on and watch!”