ACTRESS Natalie Gavin gets her first starring role on primetime TV tonight.

But the University of Huddersfield graduate wonders how people will receive her role as a drug-dealing mum.

Natalie is one of the stars of the new BBC1 drama Prisoners’ Wives that is pulling in millions of viewers.

She takes the part of Lou in tonight’s episode which goes out at 9pm.

It is the latest in a series of roles for Natalie. And even when not acting she is kept busy with auditions for new parts, meaning regular appointments in London.

But she is still eager to find time whenever possible to visit the University of Huddersfield drama department which played a role in getting her career off to a flying start.

Natalie, 24, plays Lou, a high-rise dwelling mum with a young son. Her partner is doing time and in order to make ends meet, Lou dabbles in drug dealing on her decayed council estate.

But there is a twist to the story and when Lou visits her partner in jail, the two adults go to great lengths to make sure that their boy does not grasp the situation.

It is Natalie’s highest profile role to date and she loved the experience of filming the six-part series on location in Sheffield alongside a roster of well-established TV stars.

She also relished the new acting challenge of playing the mother of a young child. But she was apprehensive over how viewers would react to her drug-peddling character.