Actress Sheridan Smith has been getting rave reviews for her role as Julie Bushby in The Moorside.
But she’s got more than just a five-star rating from her performance, she’s also got herself a new “big sister”.
Julie was the woman who led the community search for Shannon Matthews when she went missing aged nine almost a decade ago.
Sheridan is leading the drama about the child’s disappearance, and met with the real life Julie to do research.
Even though they were only supposed to spend an hour together, they ended up hanging out all day and Sheridan even took Julie back to her home.
Talking to The Mirror about her new friend, Julie said they just “clicked”.
“She was out of this world,” Julie revealed.
“I’ve met her often since, spending a week with her during filming and we phone each other all the time.”
But if viewers think Julie’s just being a star-struck fan-girl, they’re completely wrong.
“She needed me more than I need her,” Julie told the publication.
“She’s just like us, she really got me. Yes, she has the showbiz life, but she hasn’t forgotten her roots.”
Read more: Maddie McCann’s parents brand The Moorside insensitive
Talking about how Sheridan learned to be her, Julie said:
“We’d be having a convo and she was just repeating everything I said.” It turned out Sheridan was just trying to pick up the correct twang to Julie’s accent.
Despite her brilliant reviews, Sheridan has been getting a bit of stick about the accent on Twitter.
Stevedore said: “Not a single plausible Dewsbury accent in the BBC’s limited filed of acting talent marked ‘gritty northern drama’ [sic]”.
And Kyle leach added: “Worst West Yorkshire accent I’ve ever heard from the actors on Moorside”.
Read more: Viewers slate The Moorside
But Julie’s not having any of that criticism:
“There’s nothing wrong with her accent,” she said. “I speak funny. My mum says she’s spot on.”
The second episode of the drama airs on Tuesday night on BBC1 at 9pm.