SHE loves her life as an actress and next week Huddersfield-based Sarah Morris will be sharing that life with millions on a major BBC TV programme.

For the last eight years, Sarah, 34, has worked with Full Body and the Voice, the inclusive theatre company based at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.

Sarah, who has Down's syndrome, has become a confident and successful performer, sharing in some of the company's most innovative work.

She lives independently with the support of her family and from local care agency United Response.

Last year, Sarah appeared with Full Body and the Voice in Huddersfield and on tour. She also travelled with them to Japan where she was able to encourage other people with learning disabilities to get involved with drama and to share their talents with others.

That's also what Sarah will be doing when she appears in the BBC's Inside Out programme which will be broadcast on February 16 at 7.30pm.

It was early last year that Inside Out's creative team approached Sarah to see if she would be interested in making a short film.

The team's idea was to use Sarah's success as part of a programme focusing on people who live in challenging circumstances.

They wanted to show how people rise above those challenges to build independent and successful careers in the hope that their example would inspire others.

Sarah seems to manage that perfectly and was happy to be featured in next week's programme.

"We are so proud of Sarah. She loves her life, said her mother.

"Many other young people and adults faced with the challenges that Sarah has every day would lose heart and become really withdrawn.

"Sarah has never let that happen. It has not been easy for her but she has been determined to success and loves what she does.

"The level of support that she gets from everyone, including Full Body and the Voice with her acting, means that she is a confident person, able to cope with anything that life throws at her.

"She just loves her life."

The TV documentary makers asked Sarah and her family if they could shadow the actress as she worked last summer on her leading role in, In The Footsteps Of Mr Butler, a play written specially for Full Body by Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan and by the company's artistic director, Jon Palmer.

They tracked Sarah through her average day and filmed her at home, at work with the company during the Mr Butler tour and as part of a Full Body team delivering work to South Yorkshire Police where she helped train South Yorkshire Road Traffic and CID in enhanced interviewing techniques.

It is work that Sarah loves and which gives her confidence and the ability to live a fulfilling life.

"I love acting, being on stage and coming to the LBT every Monday where we learn how to do things and go over our lines till we know just what to do," she said.

"I've made lots of friends who are always coming home for tea and we support each other."

Jon Palmer, artistic director of FBATV said: "Sarah is a dream to direct. She brings an intelligence to the roles and is always exceptionally professional no matter whther she is on stage, training further education tutors in Derbyshire or doing one-off performances across the country."

See more of Sarah's story on BBC1 on Friday February 16 at 7.30pm.

* As a charity Full Body needs to raise all its own funding. Anyone interested in individual or corporate sponsorship contact Maggie McEwan (01484-484441).