An eight-year-old Bradford schoolgirl is making her television debut next week, starring in a new drama.

Sally Garrod, of Fagley, is in Tina Takes a Break, a drama-documentary about a family's struggle on a poverty-stricken housing estate in Leeds.

Sally, a pupil at St Claire's Primary School, Fagley, plays the daughter of Tina, a heroin addict barely able to cope with her two young children.

After Tina is arrested for holding up a corner shop, the children are sent to live in squalor with their alcoholic father.

The film's gritty realism often makes for uncomfortable viewing, but there is some light relief. When a teenage friend finds the children locked in their father's house, they take a stash of money he was hiding and run away to Blackpool, where they are happy for the first time.

Sally, who attends Footsteps Theatre School in Eccleshill, won the part after an audition in Leeds.

Her mother, Joanne, said working on the film had made Sally ambitious.

"It's her first television part and it has increased her confidence. Now she wants to do more films and TV work," she said.

"Seeing how the film was made was great experience for her. She's still very young and school comes first, but hopefully she'll go on to do more acting.

"I'm very proud of her and can't wait to see it on TV."

Sally said: "It was really good. I play a girl called Kimberley and in one bit I had to stand on an ice cream van.

"I want to be an actress when I grow up."

The film is a sequel to Tina Goes Shopping, Channel 4's Bafta-nominated 1999 drama about people surviving poverty.

For both films writer Penny Woolcock spent months listening to the stories of people living hand-to-mouth on tough housing estates in Leeds.

The dramas were filmed on the estates and some of the people Penny Woolcock spoke to took part as actors. Most of the action in the films is based on real events.

Sally plays a crucial role in Tina Takes a Break, which highlights the lives and opinions of Tina's children.

The youngster is a major part of the drama right from the opening scene, when someone is threatening to throw himself from the roof of her character's school.

The schoolchildren are discouraging him - but Sally's character starts shouting "jump" and is reprimanded by the headteacher.

Tina Takes a Break will be on Channel 4 on Wednesday, May 23 at 10pm.