Nadia Sawalha

Nadia Sawalha (born 18 November 1964) is an English actress and television presenter best known for her role as Annie Palmer in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders from 1997 to 1999. After winning the 2007 series of Celebrity MasterChef, Sawalha has continued to make appearances on cookery shows, not only as a presenter, but also as a chef. She currently appears on ITV Daytime show Loose Women and was one of the original presenters from its start in 1999. Nadia returned to the show in 2013 as a panelist after a presenter revamp.

Career

After training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Sawalha began her career in theatre. From 1997 to 1999, she starred in EastEnders as businesswoman Annie Palmer. Her other acting television credits include Casualty, Which Way to the War and ITV police drama, The Bill. Sawalha has also appeared in the films Clockwise (1986), Which Way to the War (1994), Slave of Dreams (1995), The Vanishing Man (1996) and the BBC Victorian drama Station Jim (2001).

From 1999 to 2002, Sawalha was a regular panellist on the lunchtime chat show Loose Women. In October 2013, she later returned as a regular panellist.^[1]

In 2001, Sawalha presented the short-lived ITV quiz programme It's Not the Answer with Peter Dickinson as the announcer.

For the BBC, Sawalha has fronted four series of Passport to the Sun, the Total series, TV Mail, Heir Hunters, Perfect Partner and Family Exchange. She is also a co-host on the live documentary City Hospital. Sawalha has previously hosted the BBC One show Living in the Sun, about British expats living in Spain, made by Ricochet, and Wanted Down Under, which shows families who want to make the move Down Under (Australia, occasionally New Zealand) and what it would be like to live and work in those Antipodean nations. She can also be seen on Accidents Can Happen, a daytime BBC One programme produced by Twofour, which follows families as they try to rebuild their homes and their lives following disaster.

In 2005, Sawalha presented the BBC One programme Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre which followed learner drivers as they learnt to drive and 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. In the same year and on the same network, Sawalha also co-presented with Jeremy Milnes for the programme Keeping Up with the Joneses.

In the summer of 2006, Sawalha began co-presenting The One Show with Adrian Chiles. However, due to her pregnancy, she did not return to the show in the summer of 2007 and was replaced by Christine Bleakley.

After winning Celebrity MasterChef, Sawalha went on to co-present the children's version of the show Junior Masterchef, she was said to be 'delighted' to be given the chance to host the show.

In 2008, Sawalha returned to BBC One, to present the daytime programme, Wanted Down Under. She presented the 2009 programme Eating In The Sun,^[2] produced by her husband Mark Adderley and has Sawalha challenged by celebrity chefs to cook in their favourite holiday restaurants.

From 15 February until 20 August 2010, Sawalha presented the short-lived reality programme Instant Restaurant^[3]for BBC Two.

In December 2010, Sawalha starred in a fitness DVD entitled Nadia Sawalha: Fat To Fab,^[4] after losing three and a half stone.

In July 2011, Sawalha guest presented ITV Breakfast programme Lorraine and has since made regular appearances on the show, not only as a stand-in presenter but also as a resident chef.^[5]

In January 2011, Sawalha starred in the sixth series of ITV's Dancing on Ice with Scottish professional Mark Hanretty, but was voted out in a double elimination in the first week along with Angela Rippon and her partner Sean Rice.

In April 2012, she began co-presenting Saturday Cookbook on ITV Breakfast with chef Mark Sargeant

In 2012, Sawalha presented the UKTV Home series Kitchen SOS.

From 27 October to 29 December 2013, Sawalha and Kaye Adams co-hosted one series of Sunday Scoop, a cookery show.^[6]

From 7 January 2015, Sawalha took part in the fifteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5. She lasted 24 days in the house before being evicted.^[7]

Personal life

Sawalha is the daughter of the Jordanian-born English actor Nadim Sawalha and his English wife Roberta Lane. She is the sister of television actress Julia Sawalha and has appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank with her.^[8] In 1997, the three starred together in Dearest Daddy... Darling Daughter at the Young Vic Theatre in South London.

Sawalha has suffered from psoriasis and has used homeopathy rather than conventional treatment.^[9]

On 25 December 1997, Sawalha's first husband Justin Mildwater committed suicide.^[10] They had been married for five years, but had split up a few months before.^{[11][12][13][14]}

On 6 June 2002, she married her second husband, television producer Mark Adderley. They have two daughters, Maddy (born 25 December 2002) and Kiki-Bee (born August 2007). She home schools both children and does not follow the national curriculum with them. Sawalha has stated that she wanted them to gain only the bare minimum of formal qualifications as "they'll never be doctors." These comments attracted backlash.^[15]

Sawalha is an atheist.^[16]

Sawalha now resides in South London and her daughters were both brought up in Croydon, Surrey. Sawalha's daughters are home educated.

Sawalha is best friends with Loose Women panellist Kaye Adams they have their own YouTube account, Instagram account and Facebook page where they do weekly vlogs, cooking videos, film and TV programme reviews. They also focus on daily normal family routines as well. Nadia and her husband Mark talk about serious topics such as depression and anxiety, from which Mark suffers. Sawalha's dogs, Chi-Chi and Toffee also feature regularly.^[17]

On 31 May 2017, Sawalha announced via her YouTube channel in an emotional video online talking about losing her hair at the age of 52. Nadia said that her curls were fake and she was going through the perimenopause, which is the start of the menopause. She revealed a doctor told her she had the balding gene in September 2016.^[18][19]

Television

Guest appearances

• Hider in the House (2007) – Guest
• All Star Mr & Mrs (17 October 2012) – Contestant
• All Star Family Fortunes (27 July 2013) – Contestant
• Draw It! (5–9 May 2014)^[20]
• Celebrity Squares (24 September 2014) – Guest^[21]
• The Chase: Celebrity Special (12 December 2015)^[22] – Contestant
• Tipping Point: Lucky Stars (22 October 2016) – Contestant

References

External links

• Nadia Sawalha on IMDb
• Nadia Sawalha @ ukgameshows.com