Actress Ashley Jensen was so determined to take on the lead in new TV comedy Accidental Farmer, she overcame her long-held fear of chickens.

The former Ugly Betty star plays a stressed city worker who moves to the countryside in the upcoming BBC show.

Producers offered to employ a stunt double for chicken-phobic Jensen - but she tackled her fear head-on to film the scenes. She tells Britain's Daily Express, "It was a hairy moment for me when I had to go into a chicken coop. My heart was pounding and the director said: 'You really don't have to do it if you don't want to, we can get someone else' but I said, 'I'm going to do it, I'm going to go into the chicken coop'." (CL/WNTEX/ZN)

Copyright 2010 WENN