A GLAMOROUS murderer has been giving budding young actors tips on how to become a TV star.

Nicole Faraday - best known for her role as Snowball Merriman in the ITV drama Bad Girls - was in Swindon at the weekend to visit the youngsters learning the art of acting at the Hampstead Factory theatre arts school at New College.

Nicole, who has also appeared in Casualty, spent several hours at the school with the children taking them through real TV scripts and giving them an idea of what acting is all about.

She said: "It's great to come along and meet the youngsters, and take them through scripts and answer their questions.

"I just wish I could spend more time with each group.

"All the groups have asked me lots of different questions - who I have worked with, what particular people are like. I was even asked how much I get paid.

"I think it's wonderful that they have this opportunity to meet professionals in the industry.

"I think it is something I certainly would have benefited from when I was a budding young actor in Swanage, where all we had was a small amateur dramatics group."

"The thing that has most surprised me however is how much the youngsters know about my character on the television.

"In Bad Girls, I play a glamorous murderer, and here I have 10 and 11 year olds knowing all about the character and I wonder to myself should they be up that late watching it?"

Nicole split the youngsters into groups and got them working from a script from Casualty, one in which Nicole herself appears and gets a severe ticking off from her boss for being generally lazy around the wards.

Eleven-year-old Thomas Lloyd was getting into his role.

He said: "This is my first time at the school today and Nicole has been brilliant. It's really cool to know what it's like to be a TV star."

Sophia Fruci, nine, felt the same way.

She said: "She played a brilliant part in Bad Girls. I watch it often so it's really good to have her here and teaching us about acting."

Nicole has recently starred in Bad Girls: The Musical for which she won this year's TMA award for best supporting performance in a musical.

The Hampstead Factory School teaches children aged between four and 17.