ACTRESS Jodie Whittaker returns to our screens this week in a supernatural drama.

The 28-year-old Skelmanthorpe actress will star in five-part Marchlands playing the emotionally-charged part of a grieving mother.

And she’s gearing up for her next big screen role alongside Hollywood starlet Anne Hathaway.

The former Shelley High School pupil spoke to the Examiner about her career, working with some of the industry’s biggest names and coming home.

Speaking from her North London home, Jodie explained: “Marchlands is set over three decades and I play the mother Ruth in the 1968 scenes.

“The scenes I’m in are about Ruth and her family trying to come to terms with the loss of a child and how difficult that is.

“Ruth and husband Paul, played by Jamie Thomas King, react very differently – Ruth is unable to accept why the little girl died.”

Marchlands is a cleverly constructed story that switches between 1968, 1987 and the present day. Although in the story Marchlands is in Yorkshire, it was filmed on the outskirts of London.

“When I got the job I thought I’d be living at home or staying with a friend in Leeds, but it was not to be,” Jodie added. And even though she moved away more than a decade ago, home is still Huddersfield where her parents live.

She added: “I’m only two hours 10 minutes from Wakefield Westgate, so it is easy for me to come back, it’s where my family and my friends are. I spent Christmas up there and it was lovely.”

And her home county features in her upcoming film with Anne Hathaway, who appeared in The Devil Wears Prada, and who will soon host the Oscars.

Anne had to work with a dialect coach to perfect a Leeds accent for the film One Day, which is based on the David Nicholls novel.

Jodie plays Tilly and she said fans of the book may be surprised by her portrayal of the character: “I was given the script and cried my eyes out at the end.

“Tilly is quite different in the film to the book, avid fans will be interested to see the character development from book to screen, but sometimes it’s hard to get it exactly like the book.”

Anne is just one of the big names Jodie has worked with and said of her: “She’s achieved so much for someone of our age, I think it’s great someone like Anne is at the forefront of acting. She’s a really lovely person as well.”

Jodie has worked with many actors who have inspired her, but remains unfazed.

“I’m still learning and it’s really exciting that I’ve been able to work with Dame Judi Dench, Jonathan Pryce and Peter O’Toole. I’m still only 28, I’d love to be still working at 70 like them.

“I watch and learn from them, but I’m trying to pass off the air of being able to do my job while being in awe.”

Jodie always wanted to act and pursued it while at school: “At Shelley High there was a brilliant drama department – but a careers adviser told me that seven out of eight actors don’t make it.

“As a 15-year-old I didn’t care, I wanted to try and I’m now glad I didn’t care.

“I wouldn’t say I have made it or that I haven’t, I’ve been very lucky because it is so difficult for young people leaving school now.

“I just really hope that young people who are creative have the confidence to go for it. Being a doctor isn’t an option for everyone – I hope that in this environment people leaving school are not put off trying.

“There is a risk of unemployment, but I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I can appreciate how lucky I’ve been – it may come to an end and I want to enjoy every day.”

l Jodie appears in Marchlands, ITV1, Thursday, February 3, at 9pm.