TV STAR Will Mellor has spoken of his harrowing experience locked up in one of the world's harshest prisons.

The Stockport-born actor spent a week with murderers, rapists, arsonists and robbers in Dodds Prison, Barbados.

And ended up in tears after meeting a young prisoner on death row.

Father-of-two Will, 32, is one of eight celebrities who volunteered to spend time in jails around the globe for new television series Prisoner: X.

He told the M.E.N: "It was harrowing. I laughed and cried and had every sort of emotion. I went to death row and I saw the gallows where they hang people and it really does unnerve you.

"I wanted to do it because my dad was in prison a long time ago and spoke about how I should never go there."

The Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps star recalled: "Sitting in the same room as a man who's waiting to die is a horrible feeling. I had a long chat with the guy. He was a very young man.

"I don't know whether I believe in capital punishment. I don't think it's right. Yet if someone had killed my son, I'd want him dead.

"But when you sit across from a young man who is facing being hung, and waiting to die, it broke my heart. I had to leave. I felt claustrophobic, everything caved in on me and I had a little breakdown, a bit of a crying moment. He talked to me about his kids and that's what set me off.

"I never felt in any danger from the prisoners. They were very welcoming.

"I was sat playing dominoes with three murderers and I forgot about it at one point - I was just playing dominoes."

Will's father Bill spent 18 months in Strangeways. Will said: "He was trying to feed his family. We were very poor and he had five kids, and one of them is disabled. It was just hard.

"He worked but he did a few things on the side, like dodgy MOTs and things. At the end of the day he never harmed a soul but, obviously, he committed crime."

The former Casualty star's experience will be broadcast on Virgin 1 later this year.