YOUNG Welsh actress Emma Catherwood has landed a major film role opposite Doctor Who star Billie Piper - despite having never been to drama school.

She is appearing in the paranormal British teen thriller Spirit Trap, which opens in UK cinemas next month.

It tells the story of five young students who move into an old unoccupied mansion, which sets an inexplicable chain of events into motion as a mysterious spirit clock begins to tick again.

As the story unfolds, revealing each student’s dark secrets, the boundary between the real world and the afterlife is no longer clear.

Emma, who is from Flintshire, plays Adele, one half of a young couple living in the house.

"It was quite freaky during filming and it has made me think of the supernatural in a different way," said the 23-year-old.

The young stars spent six weeks shooting scenes in Romania, giving them a good chance to bond.

And Emma said that Billie, who plays Doctor Who’s assistant Rose Tyler in the BBC Wales-produced TV series, was a pleasure to work with.

"We all found it quite hard living in Romania so it was nice that we all had each other. Billy was really down-to-earth and the crew were amazing."

Emma first came to the public’s attention after playing a beaten young mother in the TV drama Little Bird.

She went on to play opposite Richard Harris in Don Boyd’s drama My Kingdom when Boyd said Emma was "an intelligent, instinctive young woman who responds brilliantly to ideas. Inspirational".

Most recently she appeared in the TV series Vice and she has been described by Dazed and Confused magazine and The Times as, "fresh, natural and unfazed by the film industry".

She has now just finished filming scenes for Ray Winstone’s forthcoming TV drama Vincent, which also features former Coronation Street actress Suranne Jones.

Not bad for someone who didn’t finish drama school and got herself an agent by phoning around.

At 16, Emma started studying for a BTec qualification in drama at college in Wrexham but she quit after four months as she spent five hours in total commuting each day from Flintshire.

She later moved to London and found her agent by making a few telephone calls.

"It was a complete fluke - now I know it’s not that easy at all," she said.

She is now looking forward to the release of Spirit Trap, which also features Luke Mably, who starred opposite Julia Stiles in the romantic film The Prince and Me.

Spirit Trap will be released at cinemas nationwide on August 12.

Paranormal drama

SPIRIT TRAP is the latest paranormal drama to be screened.

In recent years there have been a wealth of supernatural offerings on both the big and small screens. Others include X Files, Sixth Sense and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It proved to be a cult hit, as did Buffy, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and followed the adventures of a teen vampire killer.