For actress Sophie McShera, life was far from glamorous on the set of ITV’s hit period drama Downton Abbey.

Sophie, 25, plays kitchen maid Daisy in the popular series about an Edwardian country house, which has a star-studded cast including Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville and Phyllis Logan.

“Daisy is the lowest of the low in the household,” said Sophie. “I had grease put on my hair every day and black make-up under my fingernails, which I couldn’t get off. I’d be on the train after filming with dirty-looking fingernails and horrible hair!

“We girls had to wear corsets, which took some getting used to. We ate through the pain – and wouldn’t let the men complain about their stiff collars!”

The show is pulling in 11 million viewers and a second series starts shooting next year.

“We’re all so excited,” said Sophie, who grew up in Eccleshill and now lives in Horsforth. “It’s my first period drama. I did etiquette training and learned a lot about Edwardian society.

“Houses like Downton Abbey ran like clockwork,” she says. “The hierarchy below stairs was rigid and I felt like a lowly maid. We did a photo shoot; I was at one end and Maggie Smith, who plays the Dowager Countess, was at the other. Our characters are separate ends of the social spectrum. Their paths never cross, but it’d be lovely if we had a scene together.”

Sophie went to St Joseph’s College in Manningham, where her father was a teacher. She got her West End break aged 12, shortly after starting at Footsteps Theatre School in Eccleshill.

“I auditioned for The Goodbye Girl in London, they wanted someone who could do an American accent and I’d been watching American TV show Saved By The Bell, so I said I could do it. I got the job, even though I’d only just started acting, and ended up at the London Palladium! After that, I was in Annie in the West End,” she said.

After doing a drama degree at London’s Brunel University, Sophie landed roles in TV dramas Waterloo Road, Survivors, Doctors and Emmerdale.

“Downton Abbey is so different from what I’ve done before, I’m loving it,” she said.