Nadia Sawalha

Nadia Sawalha (/səˈwəlxə/; born 18 November 1964) is a British actress, television personality, TV chef and vlogger of Jordanian descent, 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, she has continued to make appearances on cookery shows as a presenter and as a chef. Sawalha was one of the original presenters on the ITV daytime talk show Loose Women from its start in 1999 until 2002. She returned to the show in 2013 as a panellist after a presenter revamp.

Career[]

After training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Sawalha began her career in theatre.^{[citation needed]} 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), Caught in the Act (1997).

From 1999 to 2002, Sawalha was a regular panellist on the lunchtime chat show Loose Women. She returned in October 2013.^[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.^{[citation needed]}

After winning Celebrity MasterChef, Sawalha went on to co-present the children's version of the show Junior Masterchef, she was said^{[by whom?]} 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 reality programme Instant Restaurant^[3] for BBC Two.

In December 2010, Sawalha presented in a fitness DVD entitled Nadia Sawalha: Fat To Fab, after losing three and a half stone.^{[4][better source needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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]

Sawalha presented her own cookery show, Nadia's Family Feasts, on ITV. She took inspiration from busy households around the world as she searched for new ideas for recipes that would fit into hectic schedules. Each week, she was joined by a guest chef with a passion or expertise in that cuisine.

Sawalha now hosts a few podcasts with her husband, Mark Adderley. In "How to Stay Married (So Far)" Nadia and Mark talk about the ups and downs of married life. In "Confessions of a Modern Parent", they discuss the modern issues that face teenagers, with an insight from Sawalha's daughter Maddie, and Carlitos, Lisa Mejuto's son.

Books[]

• Stuffed Vine Leaves Saved My Life (2010)
• Greedy Girl's Diet (2013)
• Greedy Girl's Diet: Second Helpings! (2013)
• Fabulous Family Food (2014)
• Nadia Sawalha's Little Black Dress Diet (2016)
• Nadia and Kaye: Disaster Chef (2018) – with Kaye Adams

Youtube[]

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The Sawalha-Adderleys
Personal information
Born	Nadia Sawalha (1964-11-18) 18 November 1964 (age 56) Mark Adderley (1970-11-20) 20 November 1970 (age 50)
Nationality	British
Occupation	TV Presenter, Actress (Nadia) Film maker, Director, Producer (Mark)
Website	http://www.doghouse-media.co.uk/
YouTube information
Channels	[1]
Years active	2014–present
Genre	Gardening Cooking Vlogging Podcasts
Subscribers	120,000[8]
Total views	41.71 million
Catchphrase(s)	Hello Subs & Markkkkk
show Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 2020
Updated: 25 June 2021

Sawalha started a YouTube channel with fellow Loose Women panellist Kaye Adams. They had their own YouTube account, Instagram account and Facebook page where they did weekly vlogs, cooking videos, film and TV programme reviews. They also focused on daily normal family routines as well. This account, however, is now inactive, and has been replaced with the Sawalha-Adderley YouTube channel. The Sawalha-Adderleys (Originally Nadia Sawalha and Family) was launched on Monday 25 August 2014 by Nadia Sawalha and her husband Mark.^[9] The channel regular features their two children Maddie and Kiki, Nadia's parents, Mark's mother Nanni Di, Nadia's sister Dina and Nadia's best friend and make-up artist, Lisa and her two children, Carlitos and Eddie.

The channel began as a film and TV show review where Nadia Sawalha, her husband Mark and sometimes their two children Maddie and Kiki would review the latest films coming out in the cinema or a popular TV show on television. Before Nadia began her YouTube channel she had another channel with fellow Loose Women presenter Kaye where they did weekly vlogs and live videos.

By the end of 2014, the family decided to make varied content with the first being Vlogmas where the family do a vlog every day in December. This proved to be a hit with their followers. From 2015 onwards the channel has been releasing at least two videos daily.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2016 the channel launched a subscription to the channel for people who would like some extra content. It had a monthly cost of £1.99 and included their weekly The No-Named Sunday show which features different segments from memes, cooking, newspapers, book reviews, 'Teddy Talks', 'Lisa Loves...' and a weekly live for members only.^[10]

In February 2019 Nadia Sawalha announced via the channel that they had reached 50,000 subscribers.^[11] As a reward for reaching 50,000 it was announced via her husband Mark that the family will be taking Nadia to an indoor Sky Diving to say thank you to all their subs.^[12]

On 4 May 2020 the channel reached 100k and got their silver play button. In May 2020 it was announced after reaching 100,000 subs that the family were hoping to begin making new content for the channel and filming a documentary for the channel.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[]

Sawalha was raised and still lives in Croydon, South London.^[13] She is the daughter of the Jordanian-born British 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.^[14] 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.^[15]

On 25 December 1997, Sawalha's first husband Justin Mildwater ended his life by suicide.^[16] They had been married for five years, but had split up a few months before.^{[17][18][19][20]}

On 6 June 2002, she married her second husband, television producer Mark Adderley. They live in South London and have two daughters, Maddie (born 25 December 2002) and Kiki-Bee (born 24 August 2007).^{[citation needed]}

Sawalha is an atheist.^[21]

On 31 May 2017, Sawalha spoke in an emotional video online about losing her hair at the age of 52. Sawalha said that her curls were fake and she was going through the perimenopause, which is the start of the menopause. She said that a doctor told her in September 2016 she had the balding gene.^[22]

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)^[23]
• Celebrity Squares (24 September 2014) – Guest^[24]
• The Chase: Celebrity Special (12 December 2015)^[25] – Contestant
• Tipping Point: Lucky Stars (22 October 2016) – Contestant

References[]

External links[]

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