Scriptwriter Charlie Langman lived through her own horror story when she was left desperately ill in hospital after being bitten by a spider in her sleep.

The creature, believed to be related to the deadly Black Widow, crept onto her face in the dead of night.

The patter of tiny feet across her face stirred Charlie from her slumber and she brushed at her face with her hand.

Still half asleep, she lifted the spider from her head seconds after it sank its fangs into her temple.

Charlie said: "I felt something on my face and I brushed it off. It felt soft and I was half asleep so put it on the bedside table."

What Charlie did not know was that she had been bitten by the Steatoda nobilis.

The species is believed to be the only one of Britain's 640 spider varieties which bites humans. The creature originates from the Canary Islands and was first seen in the UK about 100 years ago.

It has been weaving its way from the West Country through Dorset and has been making its way into Sussex in recent years.

Within minutes of being bitten Charlie, 32, of Hereford Street, Kemp Town, Brighton, was woken by a burning sensation on her temple.

She got out of bed and went to examine her head but could not see anything so called her husband Pete.

She recalled the fluffy sensation on her face so switched the bedroom light on to see what had woken her.

She said: "There on the magazine beside my bed was a spider, perhaps a centimetre long, with a large abdomen and its legs curled under it. It was dead."

Charlie, who is also a partner in the Brighton-based matchmaking company Love in the Kitchen, began to feel ill immediately.

She said: "I was feeling dizzy and my temple was swelling so Pete brought me ice. I lay down on the floor and started to feel my limbs becoming heavy, with every second they were becoming heavier, I started to panic and groan."

Pete, who is studying for a Phd, called for an ambulance but the couple drove themselves to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where her condition deteriorated.

Charlie said: "I was feeling nauseous, my speech was slurred, my reactions were slow and I was having difficulty thinking of words."

On arrival at the hospital Pete handed over the dead spider in a small jar to staff.

Charlie was placed on a bed and given oxygen, antihistamines and steroids in an attempt to stop the affects of the spider's venom.

Charlie said: "My legs were convulsing and my arms tingling. My head hurt."

The hospital treated Charlie as if she were having an allergic reaction to the venom and she got better after a second dose of antihistamine.

Charlie, who was bitten by a garden spider at her home last year and suffered no ill effects, is baffled by her reaction to the bite as she does not suffer from allergies.

She said: "I was absolutely terrified especially when I was losing control of my body."

After a few hours Charlie's body returned to normal and she returned home with a lump on the side of her head where the spider had bitten her.

She said: "It was so bizarre. I'm not a complaining type of person or a hypochondriac and I'm not even scared of spiders, not before this and not now."

Dr Gerald Legg, keeper of natural sciences at Brighton and Hove's Booth Museum examined the spider and said: "Yes it is one of the false black widow spiders, Steatoda nobilis.

"It is not uncommon in the South of England especially along our coast. It usually lives in dark places like sheds or behind stacks of timber."

"It is one of the few species of spider that will bite if forced to do so.

"I was bitten by same species while in one of the museum stores earlier this year."