A TEENAGER who wants to star in Les Miserables has secured a place at a London drama academy.

Selected from more than 15,000 applicants, Charlene Fairish, 17, from Burnmere, Spennymoor, won place at the international £10,000-a-year Mountview Academy for the Performing Arts.

She said: "I was crying even before I read the letter that said I had a place."

Charlene, who is studying at New College Durham for a national diploma in performing arts, said: "I have never wanted to do anything else.

"I took to the stage at seven and knew that this is what I wanted to do."

Charlene is hoping that she will get a dance and drama award, to help her and her parents pay for her three years at the academy.