WHEN KAREN Edwards hugged the actress playing her daughter, it felt like she had her arms around tragic Becky once again.

The tale of Becky Godden-Edwards and Sian O’Callaghan’s disappearance and death has been turned into a prime-time drama by ITV, with Martin Freeman playing Det Supt Steve Fulcher and Imelda Staunton taking to screens as mum Karen.

Actress Stephanie Hyam plays Becky, the 22-year-old girl whose life spiralled as she sunk further into the fug of drug addiction.

Karen said she and husband Charlie desperately tried to get her off the drugs and safely home. Even after she disappeared in 2003, they would spend hours driving the streets and searching for her.

While it was surreal to see herself portrayed by Downton Abbey star Imelda Staunton, Karen said it was more upsetting to see her daughter shown on screen.

She had travelled to see the Jeff Pope series being filmed in London, meeting the cast.

Karen said: “To see somebody who looks like your daughter, who’s the same build as your daughter – when I gave Stephanie a cuddle I could feel Becky’s ribs. She had such a petite frame.”

She broke down as she told the Adver: “It was like I had Becky back just for a short while.

“Becky was a very cuddly person. No matter how old she was she always used to sit on my lap. She’d come in, put her arm around my neck and sit in my lap.”

A Confession is on ITV1, Mondays, at 9pm tonight.