A SALFORD actress is set to unleash her darker side in a one-off BBC TV film about the life of Florence Nightingale.

Catherine Tyldesley indulged her love of period drama after being chosen for the role of Florence’s sister Parthenope in Miss Nightingale, to be screened on Easter Monday.

The show directed by Norman Stone, who won a Bafta and Emmy for Shadowlands, was filmed in Derbyshire last November.

Parts of it were done on location at the Nightingale’s mansion.

The film, which also stars Laura Fraser who was in A Knight’s Tale with the late Heath Ledger, has already been sold to a TV company in America.

The former St George’s RC High School pupil, who recently took part in a protest march to keep the school open, said: "When Florence decides nursing is what she wants to do my character can’t quite believe it because the most important thing back then was finding a suitor.

"Parthenope is jealous because Florence gets all the offers and when she becomes famous for her nursing my character is pushed into the background.

"She loves Florence but she is bitter and resentful. It was amazing because the BBC put everything back to the way it would have been originally.

"We were doing a scene and the director pointed out that 100 years ago this conversation was taking place in this room.

"I love doing period drama and one of the most important things is doing the research.

"I didn’t know anything about Florence when I started, but I learned."

The 24-year-old has also starred in Edwardian drama Lilies, Holby City, Drop Dead Gorgeous and Coronation Street.

Catherine, who currently splits her time between Walkden and London, has a few more irons in the fire and is also hoping to break into US television.

The former Pendleton College student added: "It was a complete contrast to the stuff I have done before - I usually get the nice characters. I’m planning to go over to Los Angeles in ‘pilot season’ to try my luck over there and there’s other things I’m waiting on."