WHEN television extra Charlie Scott-King was killed off after one scene in ITV’s new epic show Beowulf she prepared to return to her day job as an administrator with a chartered accountant.

But through the magic of television she came back to life, this time with a husband and two children, when she was called back to the North-East set for more filming.

Mrs Scott-King applied to be an extra in the series about a legendary warrior who kills monsters, which hit the screen on Sunday night, after hearing it was being made in the region.

She was being trained in combat and swordsmanship at an Eleven Arches taster day when tutor Mark Hindman Smith said supporting actors were needed for one of ITV’s most expensive dramas.

“I’d not done any acting or TV before but asked my boss for three days off for auditions, I thought there’s nothing exciting about me so I won’t get picked but then I got a text to say I’d been chosen and had to be a secret location at 7am the next morning, it was so exciting,” she said.

The secret location was beside Derwent Reservoir where she was one of the fisher people of Bregan, the coastal settlement gateway to the Shieldlands which was built at Millshield, Northumberland.

Mrs Scott-King, from Bishop Auckland, said: “There were trailers everywhere, I went into costume and had hair and make-up done, it was surreal.

“My first three days included me being a dead body, a terrified villager, a salt chipper and a water carrier.

“When I was killed off I thought that was that.”

But the 33-year-old was asked to return for more scenes and thanks to a costume makeover reappeared with a family.

The biggest challenge came when she and a friend had to contain their excitement for an intense scene.

She said: “I had so much fun and made so many lifelong friends it was difficult not to grin.

“We had to find fear from somewhere and act scared, we were huddled together in a tent with a camera and a sound guy and told 'pretend you’re about the get stabbed and scream as loud as possible'.”

Mrs Scott-King, originally from Wolsingham and a former pupil of St Leonard’s School in Durham, was involved in filming at Eastgate in Weardale, where a huge castle set has been built, and Barnard Castle and will appear in episodes three and five to 11.

She said: “I might hide behind the sofa when I’m on, I’ll mostly be in the background but it was about trying something new, getting out, meeting new people and being part of one of the exciting things putting this area on the map.”

Mrs Scott-King also worked on Mr Hindman Smith’s film Whiteblade and volunteers at Eleven Arches, Bishop Auckland, where she will perform in the open air historic show Kynren from July.