Success stories

Amanda attended classes at the workshop for a number of years. She was a little live wire, who never missed a session! She can be seen today playing nurse ‘Robyn Miller’ in Casualty

Charley Webb attended a Saturday group at The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop for about a year. Throughout this time Carol gave her the opportunity to meet with various casting directors and she is now well known for her role of Debbie Dingle in Emmerdale.

Carol first met Chris Coghill in 1990 when he was around 15 years old. Chris was one of the very first 12 members of The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop when it was running under the name of ‘The Whitefield Workshop’. Chris was given the lead in one of the workshops first performances, a play named ‘Life In A Bun With Relish Please’. Chris also attended the Carol Godby Theatre Workshop for another year in 1998 where he enjoyed participating in showcases and cabarets. It was at this time that he gained his earliest television roles through Carol appearing in both Coronation Street and Cold Feet. Chris has established a successful career as both an actor and writer since leaving the workshop.

Chris Fountain joined the Carol Godby Theatre Workshop at the age of 13 and was never far away participating in drama, dance and singing classes. There were four members named Chris in his group so he was known as ‘Brad’ due to his Bradford roots! Chris was heavily involved with the workshop and took part in many productions including playing the Beast in a Christmas pantomime of Beauty and the Beast. Chris was also a member of Carol’s first boy band, ‘Nau-T’ who performed together for almost two years. Nau-T used to tour road shows, talent shows and sing at birthday parties which was a fantastic experience for the young Chris Fountain. Carol was responsible for securing chris’ first professional television acting role. Many more were to follow, including the regular character ‘Justin Burton’ in Hollyoaks. Chris also won ‘Best Male Actor’ at The Soap Awards 2008 and was a finalist in Dancing on Ice 2010.

Danielle started at the workshop around 20 years ago and attended regular classes for approximately 6 years. In later years, in between her filming schedules, she has been back to teach, where her knowledge and experience have been value to many! Danielle is best known for her regular roles as ‘Latisha Daggert’ in Emmerdale and more recently as ‘Mandy Marquez’ in Doctors.

Elle has been a workshop member since she was 4 and has had bags of enthusiasm since day one! She takes her acting very seriously and has a very professional approach for a girl of her age. She takes everything in her stride, combining filming with her studies and not forgetting her beloved weekly drama session at Carol Godby Theatre Workshop! Elle can be seen on our screens playing ‘Amy Barlow’ on Coronation Street.

Elliott was about 12 years old when he first attended The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop and was a member for a couple of years. Elliott attended the drama classes on a weekly basis. He secured a role through his involvement with Carol in Brookside before sharing the role of Carl Gallagher in Shameless with his twin brother Luke. When Luke gained the role of Daz in Emmerdale Elliott kept the role of Carl in Shameless to himself. Elliott has also worked on BBC drama ‘True, Dare, Kiss’ through his involvement with Carol.

The beautiful identical twin girls first hit our screen when they played ‘Baby Cilla’ on Shameless at the age of 2 years and in October 2012 landed the regular role of ‘Hope Stape’ in Coronation Street. Alongside filming they enjoy attending weekly diddy drama sessions at Carol Godby Theatre Workshop.

Georgia first came to classes aged around 8 years old. She was a sweet and pretty little girl, who loved to dance. She could not get enough of the workshop, she made many friends here and attended more than one class per week, for over 10 years! As the years passed she assisted as a teacher in the classes and many of our youngsters remember her with fondess. It didn’t take long for Georgia’s talent to shine through and in2004 she landed her first professional role in Red Productions ‘Convictions’. Her career went from strength to strength gaining lead roles in programmes such as; Grange Hill, Life On Mars, Doctors, Casualty, Emmerdale & This is England ’86. Then in 2012 Georgia secured the role of Katy Armstrong’ in Coronation Street’, alongside Sam Aston, her old workshop mate and other Carol Godby Theatre Workshop success story!

Harry had only been attending classes for four weeks when he landed the role of ‘Max’ in Coronation Street. He was in the right place at the right time! An adorable young boy, who has many friends at Carol Godby Theatre Workshop and still loves attending his weekly drama class.

Helen joined The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop at the age of 6 and was very heavily involved for almost 10 years. Helen attended both dance and drama classes and often took part in Summer Schools as well. Helen took part in many of the Christmas pantomimes, road shows and LAMDA classes in order to build her confidence as a performer. She was a particularly cute young girl and Carol was able to secure her a string of commercials before putting her forward for the role of Rosie Webster in Coronation Street.

Jennifer had already had success some years earlier, prior to coming to us. She only attended a handful of workshops before gaining the regular role of the feisty ‘Mercedes McQueen’ in Hollyoaks

Katie joined the workshop aged around 14 years and attended classes every Saturday, for approximately 3 years. She was involved in a number of in house productions and started a career as a background artist on many popular tv shows. Little did she know at the time she would join the programme as a main cast member. Carol was instrumental in launching Katie’s career and after coaching her and putting in a lot of time in and it all paid off and in 2010 she was cast as Waterloo Road regular ‘Scout’. She then went on to secure the part of ‘Sinead’ on Coronation Street, where she can still be seen on our screens.

Lucien attend Carol Godby Theatre Workshop for several years, where he took part in both drama and dance classes. He first met with Carol in 1999 where he did a workshop at Granada Studios; 10 years later he was back there, after Carol securing him a regular role on Coronation Street, as ‘Ben Richardson’. Lucien was also a regular on ‘Waterloo Road’ and his career continues to go from strength to strength.

Luke was about 12 years old when he first attended The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop and was a member for a couple of years. Luke attended the drama classes on a weekly basis. He secured roles through his involvement with Carol in Real Men and Brookside before sharing the role of Carl Gallagher in Shameless with his twin brother Elliott. After the first series of Shameless Carol put Luke forward for the role of Daz in Emmerdale which he secured. Luke has gone on to win awards for his portrayal of Daz including Best Dramatic Storyline.

Natalie Casey had already enjoyed a certain degree of success with her professional acting work before deciding to join The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop. Natalie joined the drama classes and enjoyed attending every Saturday for approximately 2 years. During this time Natalie was thoroughly involved with the workshop doing her work experience with Carol and participating in many performances. Natalie was a fantastic all round performer and particularly enjoyed the cabaret performances as this gave her the opportunity to showcase her singing and dancing skills as well as her acting. Natalie also participated in the pantomimes and starred as Snow White in Carol’s production of ‘Snow White and the Seven Giants’!

Nikki Sanderson was a member of the workshop for a number of years. She is currently playing ‘Maxine’ in Hollyoaks and received ‘Best Actress’ & ‘Best Storyline’ for this role at the Inside Soap Awards 2014. She is also known for playing ‘Dawn Bellamy’ in Heartbeat and ‘Candice Stowe’ in Coronation Street. Since leaving Coronation Street in 2005, Nikki has had a very successful career and has appeared in BBC television series ‘New Street Law’, played a solicitor’s assistant in Holby City, recorded for BBC Radio play ‘Silver Street’ and has appeared as a guest lead in ‘Strictly Confidential’, ‘The Afternoon Plays’ and popular TV Drama ‘Cold Blood’. Nikki has also had theatre roles and has become well known for her performances in the popular ‘Vagina Monologues’ at various venues. More recently Nikki has appeared in the British Film ‘Clubbed’ and played supporting lead role ‘Audrey’ in American Feature Film ‘Boogeyman 3’. Nikki is still represented by Linton Management and makes appearances at the workshop when she can, often sitting on the judging panel for our festivals of plays and annual pop shows – a feature of the workshop Nikki used to love participating in herself!

Sam Aston has been attending ‘The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop’ from the age of 6 and gained a long list of television and commercial credits through his involvement with Carol and the workshop before gaining the role he is now best known for, Chesney Brown in Coronation Street. We are very proud that Sam has gone on to win many awards for his portrayal of this role. Sam is still very involved with the workshop and regularly pops in to classes, as well as attending Pop Shows and being on the judging panel for some of our Festival of Plays.

Vicky Binns first came to The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop when she attended a summer school and loved it so much she decided to join the weekly classes. Vicky attended dance and drama classes for about 7 years; she did her work experience at the workshop and then went on to teach weekly dance classes for Carol. Vicky was very involved with the workshop during her time here and performed in many showcases. She once starred as Cinderella in one of the pantomimes alongside Ralf Little as her Prince Charming! Vicky also secured her very first television role on Children’s Ward through Carol Godby and it is through Carol she gained her first major role in Emmerdale. More recently Vicky is well known for her role of Molly in Coronation Street.