Karen Matthews’s former friend Julie gushes about Sheridan Smith playing her in new BBC drama The Moorside during This Morning appearance

KAREN Matthews's former friend Julie Bushby has gushed about Sheridan Smith playing her in new BBC drama The Moorside.

Speaking on today's This Morning, Julie and Natalie Murray opened up about working with Sheridan on the TV show about the disappearance of Karen's daughter Shannon.

In 2008, the nation was gripped when schoolgirl Shannon Matthews allegedly went missing after a swimming trip.

Her mum Karen was seen pleading on TV for the safe girl’s return as West Yorkshire Police spent £3.2million to find her safe.

A few weeks later she was eventually discovered - drugged inside the base of a divan bed in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and it emerged that mum Karen had orchestrated the whole plot so she could bag the £50,000 reward money and split it with her accomplice Michael Donovan.

The house where Shannon was found less than a mile away at was that of Donovan, the uncle of Craig Meehan – who was Karen’s boyfriend at the time.

They had planned to release the schoolgirl, "discover her" then take her to a police station and claim the reward before splitting.

The harrowing ordeal is now the focus of a new two-part drama starring Sheridan as Julie, Gemma Whelan as Karen and Sian Brooke as Natalie.

Speaking to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, Julie said: "Me and Sheridan are still mates now.

"She didn't really ask much of me but every time I spoke, she were repeating it, trying to get my accent right."

Natalie said it was eerie seeing Sheridan play her friend so well.

She said: "How accurate she is as Julie is scary, she's amazing."

Julie continued to visit Karen in prison once a month for four years as she hoped to discover the truth about what happened.

She said: "I wanted answers, she kept saying that other people were involved but I wanted to know the truth, why, what."

Phillip asked if she ever found out the truth and she said "no".

Natalie also revealed that she was suspicious of Karen shortly after Shannon went missing.

She said: "It started when she did the first interview outside her house, the liaison officer told her not to do it as it could put the child's life at risk.

"She did the interview but why would you do that after being told not to because it could put your child at risk?

"I was angry that nobody had listened to me, nobody had seen what I saw about her behaviour."

The first part of the crime drama will be aired on BBC1 on February 7 at 9pm.

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