AN ACTRESS nurturing her North-East roots hopes to inspire the next generation of all-singing, all-dancing stage stars through a series of performance workshops.

Zoe Birkett, who recently completed a UK tour sharing the lead role in The Bodyguard musical, took time out of her busy schedule to offer practical lessons to would-be performers.

The two-day Summer Stars workshop, hosted by Consett-born and Darlington-raised Ms Birkett, was open to four to 21-year-olds across the weekend with dancing, drama and singing classes on offer.

Ms Birkett said: “From about the age of three, I was singing, dancing and being a drama queen and from then on my parents decided to push me in the right direction, which was relating to performing arts.

“What I wanted to do was to come back to the place that gave something to me to give something back.

“If you think about some of the people who have come from the North-East and have gone on to big success – Ant and Dec, our local girl Amy Tinkler, who just won bronze at the gymnastics which is incredible, Little Mix, Cheryl Cole.

“At some point we’ve all had to make that trip around the world or to a different destination and it is really, really expensive, so what I want to do is give something back.”

The successful West End actress originally found fame through TV talent show Pop Idol in 2002, alongside Will Young and Gareth Gates.

Since then, Ms Birkett has travelled across the globe for international performances before returning home to back the North-East arts scene to launch The Zoe Birkett Academy.