JULIE WALTERS - JULIE WALTERS REVEALS CHILDHOOD ABDUCTION ESCAPE

Julie Walters has claimed she came close to being abducted as a young girl.

The Mamma Mia! star told GMTV presenter Richard Arnold: "I had an incident when I was at junior school where a man tried to abduct myself and three other little girls."

She added: "I was ten – and so I thought I’m going to write about that."

Speaking ahead of the launch of her autobiography, the acclaimed actress admitted the writing process was harder to cope with than she had imagined.

"I tell you, writing it - it was cathartic," she explained.

"It got really scary – every time I didn’t want to open the computer – didn’t want to do it, but I thought if I’m writing it, I’ve got to write about this.”

The 58-year-old stars as Rosie, one of the best friends of Meryl Streep's Donna, the lead in the musical adaptation.

When Donna's daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) begins to plan her wedding, she invites the three men - Pierce Brosnan, Stellen Skarsgard and Colin Firth - that could potentially be her real father.

And with the trio of possible fathers gathering on the Greek island on which Donna and Sophie live, Rosie and Tanya (Christine Baranski) rush to Donna's aid.

Speaking about her role, Walters admitted her deep excitement at working with Streep.

"It was, for me, like meeting the Queen," she added.

Mamma Mia! is released on Thursday July 10th.