Kerrie Hayes has admitted she feels "pressure to keep up" with the more experienced actors on The Mill.

The Liverpudlian actress - whose previous credits include TV dramas Lilies and Good Cop - co-stars with established television actors like Kevin McNally, Donald Sumpter, Jamie Draven and Claire Rushbrook on Channel 4's new historical drama.

Asked whether she felt starstruck, she confessed: "Yeah. Actually, it's more like a pressure. When I came to do a scene with Donald, for instance, I was super, super nervous because I knew that I was working with someone who's been doing this for a lot longer than I've been alive, you know what I mean?

"There's also a pressure to keep up with them because they're so quick and I'm still learning. It was tough but it was good."

Kerrie, 26, plays a pioneering, downtrodden worker in the factually-inspired drama, which is set in Cheshire during the 1830s.

It tells the story of two groups: the Gregs, a wealthy family with businesses in England and the Caribbean, and the downtrodden people who work for them.

"It sounds harrowing but it surprises you," said the actress. "There are a lot of surprise alliances in it. I saw the first episode the other day and I was quite shocked by it; there's a lot of interesting little sub-plots going on."

The drama is shot at Cheshire's Quarry Bank Mill, where the events depicted really took place, which Kerrie revealed helped bring the characters to life.

She said: "On the first day I did a scene up in an attic room, and then I was told that was where the event actually happened, we were kind of recreating it. So that was weird, and also a bit scary!"

:: The Mill starts on Channel 4 on Sunday, July 28.