Former soap actress Donnaleigh Bailey has created a school for young aspiring actors. Roz Laws met her.

In her four years spent playing a nurse in the BBC1 soap Doctors, Donnaleigh Bailey saw hundreds of guest stars pass through the Birmingham set.

And most of them came from outside the city.

So when she left the drama, the 28-year-old decided to set up a project to train young people in acting skills – and recreate the experience she was able to enjoy as child.

Donnaleigh was a regular at the Central Junior Television Workshop in the days when it was still operating in Birmingham. Other names to have benefited from its classes include Felicity Jones, Sarah Smart, Alison Hammond and Jacqueline Pirie.

It still exists in Nottingham as The Television Workshop but the Birmingham branch folded in 2008, although it has resurfaced as First Act Workshops.

“You were supposed to be 11 to join but I lied about my age and joined at nine,” remembers Donnaleigh, a proud born-and-bred Brummie.

“Growing up in Balsall Heath, options were limited, but the workshop really helped me. I was there for 10 years before going on to train at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, the ‘Fame’ school started by Sir Paul McCartney.

“I always wanted to act. When I was 10, I made a list of the three things I wanted to do when I grew up. They were to be an actress, to find a good husband and to take my kids to Disney World.

“I’m still working on the last two but one out of three isn’t bad!”

Donnaleigh has set up The Drama Place in King’s Heath, where she lives, offering classes three times a week for seven to 17-year-olds. They’re held at the Community Centre on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays and classes normally cost £7.50 for a 90-minute session.

“I used to see all the guest actors coming up from London, playing Brummies with some really dodgy accents,” remembers the former pupil of Bishop Challoner School of her time playing nurse Michelle Corrigan in Doctors. “I thought that we have to have some talented youngsters here who could do it better. I’m passionate about acting and have so much to give to young people. I’m not a fan of the Glee-style schools, I prefer proper stage acting, in a fun environment but with a good work ethic.