Nadia Sawalha
Encyclopedia
Nadia Sawalha is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 actress and television presenter.

Sawalha is perhaps best known for her role as Annie Palmer
Annie Palmer
Annie Palmer is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nadia Sawalha. Annie was portrayed as a hard-nosed businesswoman, who wasn't averse to dabbling on the wrong side of the law...

 in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

during the 1990s, although most of her television work is now as a presenter rather than an actress.

Career

After training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
Italia Conti Academy
The Italia Conti Academy is a theatre arts training school based in London. It was founded in 1911 by actress Italia Conti...

, Sawalha began her career in theatre.

In 1997 she started her role in EastEnders, as businesswoman Annie Palmer. She remained in the role until 1999.

Her other acting television credits include Casualty, Which Way to the War and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 police drama, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...

.

She has also appeared in the films Clockwise
Clockwise (film)
Clockwise is a 1986 British comedy film starring John Cleese. It was directed by Christopher Morahan, written by Michael Frayn and produced by Michael Codron. The film was co-produced by Moment Films and Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment...

, Top Tips, Sleeping with the Fishes and the BBC Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 drama Station Jim.

Sawalha has become a regular personality on daytime TV, after presenting the live programmes Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...

and Live Talk 1999-2002.

For the BBC, she has fronted four series of Passport to the Sun, the Total series, TV Mail, Heir Hunters
Heir Hunters
Heir Hunters is a BBC television programme focusing on attempts to find missing or unknown heirs, entitled to deceased people's estates before the British Treasury lawfully collects the money. The show follows the work of Probate researchers from a number of different firms to show how the results...

, Perfect Partner and Family Exchange. She is also a co-host on the live documentary City Hospital.

She has previously hosted the morning BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 show Living in the Sun, about British ex-pats living in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, made by Ricochet, and Wanted Down Under
Wanted Down Under
Wanted Down Under is a BBC One morning television series, which has been running since 2007. The program shows families considering emigrating to either Australia or New Zealand.-Format:...

, which shows families who want to make the move Down Under
Down Under
The term Down Under is a colloquialism which is variously construed either to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or Australia alone. The term comes from the fact that these countries are located in the southern hemisphere, below many other countries on the globe.The persistence of the media use of...

 (Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, occasionally New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

) what it would be like to live and work in those Antipodean nations.

She can also be seen on Accidents Can Happen
Accidents Can Happen
Accidents Can Happen is a daytime BBC One programme produced by Twofour.Presented by Nadia Sawalha, Accidents Can Happen follows what happens when disaster strikes a home - from floods and fires to crashes and explosions. Nadia Sawalha meets families as they pick up the pieces and navigate the...

, a daytime BBC One programme produced by Twofour
Twofour
Twofour is a UK independent media group that was founded in 1988 by Charles Wace, a former TV news producer and brother of financier Ian Wace. It has grown to become one of the largest independent media groups in the UK, employing over 350 people internationally....

, which follows families as they try to rebuild their homes and their lives following disaster.

She presented the BBC One programme Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre in 2005, following learner drivers as they learnt to drive & took their driving tests with varying degrees of success. Sawalha was one of the learner drivers, who ended up passing her driving test at the end of the second series.

Sawalha co-presented The One Show
The One Show
The One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...

with Adrian Chiles
Adrian Chiles
Adrian Chiles is a British television and radio presenter, currently working for ITV Sport presenting football coverage....

. This 'Nationwide' style show launched on BBC One in the summer of 2006 and features a mix of interviews, factual features and topical stories. On 14 March 2007, it was confirmed on Digital Say Broadcast and The Sun that Nadia would not return to co-present The One Show when it returned in the summer of 2007, because she was pregnant.

In 2008, she returned to BBC One, to once again present its daytime programme, Wanted Down Under
Wanted Down Under
Wanted Down Under is a BBC One morning television series, which has been running since 2007. The program shows families considering emigrating to either Australia or New Zealand.-Format:...

. Sawalha stars in the BBC One programme Eating In The Sun, which is produced by husband Mark Adderley. This follows on from her win in the Celebrity MasterChef series and has her challenged by celebrity chefs to cook in their favourite holiday restaurants.

Between July to October 2011 she guest presented the ITV Breakfast
ITV Breakfast
ITV Breakfast Limited is the national ITV breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom...

 programme Lorraine
Lorraine (TV programme)
Lorraine is the early weekday morning, lifestyle and entertainment show for the British ITV network, presented by Lorraine Kelly. ITV Breakfast produces Lorraine, which airs every weekday from 08:30 until 09:25, following Daybreak...

, she has also been a regular guest chef on the show.

Other appearances

Nadia has appeared as a guest on Test the Nation
Test the Nation
Test the Nation is a television programme, first broadcast in 2001 by BNN in the Netherlands where the concept is owned by Eyeworks Holding who license it to TV production companies around the world.-Show format:...

and contributed to Comic Relief by taking part in Celebrity Driving School. She also starred as the 'hidden' celebrity in an episode of the CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...

 gameshow Hider in the House
Hider in the House
Hider in the House was a British children's game show presented by Jason King and Joel Ross . In the programme, a celebrity had to be hidden in a family's house by three children and a parent. If the family have fewer than three children, they use friends or related children to make up the numbers...

.

Nadia won the 2007 series of Celebrity MasterChef, beating Craig Revel Horwood
Craig Revel Horwood
Craig Revel Horwood is an Australian-British dancer, choreographer, and theatre director in the United Kingdom.-Biography:...

 and Midge Ure
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

 in the final.

She then went onto host the children's version of the show Junior Masterchef
Junior MasterChef
Junior MasterChef is a British game show in which ten to twelve year olds must compete to be crowned Junior MasterChef. It began on BBC One on 10 May 2010. it is a spin-off from the television series MasterChef...

, she was said to be 'delighted' to be given the chance to host the show.

In December 2010, Sawalha starred in a fitness DVD entitled Nadia Sawalha: Fat To Fab, after losing three and a half stone.

In January 2011, Sawalha starred in the sixth series of ITV's Dancing On Ice
Dancing on Ice (series 6)
The sixth series of Dancing on Ice started on 9 January 2011 and ended on 27 March 2011 on ITV. Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby return as hosts whilst Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean return to mentor the celebrities...

with Scottish professional Mark Hanretty
Mark Hanretty
Mark Hanretty is a Scottish ice dancer who represents Great Britain. He teamed up with American ice dancer Christina Chitwood on 31 December 2005. They are the 2008 & 2010 British bronze medalists...

. She was voted out in a double elimination in Week 1 along with fellow competitor Angela Rippon
Angela Rippon
Angela M. Rippon, OBE, born 12 October 1944, Plymouth, Devon, England, is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's Nine O'Clock News, becoming a regular presenter in 1975...

 with her partner Sean Rice
Sean Rice
Sean Rice is a Canadian pair skater. With partner and wife Jodeyne Higgins, he is the 1993 & 1995 Canadian bronze medalist. They also competed in the fours discipline, winning the fours title at the 1993 Canadian Figure Skating Championships with Jodi Barnes and Rob Williams and the 1994, 1995, and...

.

Personal life

Nadia is the daughter of the Jordanian-born, English actor Nadim Sawalha
Nadim Sawalha
Nadim Sawalha is a Jordanian-born English actor and father of actresses Julia and Nadia Sawalha.He was born in Madaba in 1935 and came to England from Jordan in the 1950s, to study drama...

 and his English wife Roberta, and sister of television actress Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha is an English actress well known for her roles as Saffron Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous, Lynda Day, editor of The Junior Gazette in Press Gang and Lydia Bennet in the 1995 television miniseries of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She also played Dorcas Lane in the BBC's costume...

. The three all starred together in Dearest Daddy... Darling Daughter at the Young Vic Theatre in South London in 1997.

Nadia has suffered from psoriasis
Psoriasis
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that appears on the skin. It occurs when the immune system mistakes the skin cells as a pathogen, and sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is not contagious. However, psoriasis has been linked to an increased risk of...

 and has used homeopathy
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...

 rather than conventional treatment.

On 25 December 1997, Sawalha's first husband Justin Mildwater committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

. They had been married for five years, but had split up a few months before.

She married second husband, television producer Mark Adderley, in June 2002. They have two daughters, Maddy (born 25 December 2002) and Kiki (born August 2007).

External links

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