Downton Abbey star Lily James may look fresh-faced – but she says she’s spent the past year suffering from “zombie-like” fatigue which left her “exhausted”.

Lily, who also starred in Cinderella, has been struggling to get to sleep and ended up taking sleeping pills.

Lily James in Downton Abbey
Lily James in Downton Abbey (ITV)

“I felt exhausted and emotional,” she told the Daily Mirror. “I was literally on a plane constantly, never in the same time zone as anyone else, so tired, on sleeping pills.”

The actress, 26, was speaking at a festive party at Claridge’s Hotel in London, which she attended with her actor boyfriend Matt Smith, 33. She wore a black off-the-shoulder dress with a sheer skirt.

It has been a busy year of filming for the actress, who stars in Pride + Prejudice + Zombies (due out February) and the BBC’s War And Peace (due for January).

New images show her in the BBC One drama as heroine Natasha Rostov, looking a little Downton-esque in a fancy dress and tiara.

James Norton as Prince Andrei, Lily James as Natasha Rostov, Paul Dano as Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace
James Norton as Prince Andrei, Lily James as Natasha Rostov, Paul Dano as Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace (Mitch Jenkins/BBC)

She poses alongside James Norton’s Prince Andrei and Paul Dano’s Pierre Bezukhov for the adaptation of Tolstoy’s epic tale of give aristocratic families at the time of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.

The six-part adaptation is set for the new year.