‘I was on one of the biggest TV shows in the 90s, but I ditched fame ten years ago for a very different job'
A NEW LIFE 'I was on one of the biggest TV shows in the 90s, but I ditched fame ten years ago for a very different job'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
IN the 90s, TV show This Life launched the careers of some of the UK's biggest stars.
While Andrew Lincoln went on to star in the Walking Dead, and Jack Davenport appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean – their co-star chose a completely different career path.
Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter
Sign up
8
This Life was a smash hit series for the BBC on its release in 1996
Credit: BBC
8
Daniela now works as a CBT therapist in Glasgow
Credit: BBC
8
As the straight-talking Anna, Daniela became a TV fan favourite
Credit: BBC
Now Daniela Nardini, who became a fan favourite on the show as straight-talking lawyer Anna Forbes on the show, is now a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT), living life away from the spotlight in Glasgow.
Daniela, now 57, was beloved as Anna on the smash-hit series, which launched in 1996 and followed a group of five friends as they navigated their twenties after graduating law school.
The series saw the gang living together in East London as they try to get their foot on the career ladder, with Anna having a love-hate relationship with Miles (Jack Davenport), whom she had a fling with while studying.
Daniela appeared in 32 episodes of the series, before reuniting with the cast in for TV movie This Life +10, marking the show's 10th anniversary in 2006.
The role won her a BAFTA for Best Actress in 1998.
While she continued to act – starring in multiple episodes of Waterloo Road, plus episodes of Vera and Lewis on her credit list – her performance career later took a backseat to events in her personal life.
In 2020, Daniela told the Daily Mail she had endured 'the worst five years of her life', revealing her father died in 2015, she got divorced shortly after, before being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2018, getting a mastectomy.
She told the site: 'I went through a very dark period. Sometimes I wonder if it was all the emotional stuff I was going through that caused my cancer.
'A couple of years down the road, I now feel as if I've emerged stronger and a better person really. Anna would be proud.'
However, she noted that her time on This Life feels like 'another life now', and doesn't miss the fame that came with it.
Trailer for 90s Brit drama series This Life
During her recovery, Daniela turned to art therapy to help her process her cancer diagnosis, admitting she 'lost interest in performing'.
'Not because I felt physically I was not right, but I just felt mentally and emotionally not ready,' she explained.
'Acting is a very personal thing for me, as I suppose it is for other actors. But you've only got yourself to use and if there's not much 'self' there to use, it's futile even trying. At its worst, I would have struggled to even remember a line.'
Proud of where she is in her life, Daniela said she came forward with her diagnosis in order to encourage others to get their breasts checked.
8
After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Daniela turned to art therapy
Credit: Instagram
8
The star won a Bafta for her role in This Life in 1998
Credit: PA:Press Association
'It took a lot of pain and heartache to get here. But I'm a survivor and I feel strong,' she said.
'I feel like I'm finally the woman I wanted to be.'
After launching her CBT practice from her home in Glasgow, Daniela explained that she felt being an actress helped her understand people on a more fundamental level.
'I have worked as an actress for over 35 years. This has been an invaluable education for me to study what it is to be human and how we can all suffer at times and feel misunderstood and lonely,' she wrote on her psychologist bio.
'I myself have struggled at times. My practice involves helping you gain insight, clarity and believe it or not humour at times. I don't shock easily so I won't judge.'
8
This Life launched the career of some of the UK's biggest stars
Credit: BBC
8
Daniela credits her acting career for helping her understand people with her new life path
Credit: Meridian
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Argus
26 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Writer Jimmy McGovern praises ‘brave' BBC for airing child abuse drama
The Liverpool-born scriptwriter said he thought he 'had' to write Unforgivable to tell the story – based on an account he heard from a child psychologist – of a convicted sex offender who revealed details of his own abuse after being released from prison. He said that as he was writing it he doubted whether it would ever be aired. The 75-year-old told the PA news agency: 'I wanted to get it right, but the thing that bothered me most was, why am I doing this? Because I have a very strong feeling that the BBC will never do this, because it was not only condemning child abuse, it was trying to understand all the issues about child abuse, and that's not easy for people to take. 'I thought the BBC would say no, but they haven't said no. 'I know that they've been subject to attack at the moment, but it is an extraordinarily brave organisation at times, particularly over drama.' McGovern said as he wrote it he worried about backlash 'more over this particular project than any other' from people who may think it offered a sympathetic view of child abusers. He said: 'People are more than the crime they have committed, aren't they? There is more to any criminal than the crime they committed. 'So, it's finding that within the child abuser that helps you tell the story. 'He is an interesting character. We do not make it easy for him at all. 'The crime of abuse is an appalling crime and should be punished as an appalling crime. We do not make it easy for for our abuser at all, but we do delve into aspects of his life.' The writer said he understood the public reaction to child abusers – having once driven around Liverpool's Sefton Park with a neighbour trying to find a man they believed had tried to touch their children. 'All we knew was the man who did it had blue running shorts on,' he said. David Threlfall is among the cast for Unforgivable (Jonathan Brady/PA) 'We went, we toured around Sefton Park looking for a man, any man, in blue running shorts and we were going to kill him. Thank God we did not find such a man. 'I excuse myself by saying probably most men would have reacted that way.' McGovern said he always wanted actor Bobby Schofield, who appeared in the writer's prison series Time, to play the role of abuser Joe Mitchell. He said: 'He's tremendous in it. He doesn't curry favour at all. What he does do is he plays self-disgust really well and he is a man who hates himself.' The one-off TV film also sees McGovern working with Anna Friel and Anna Maxwell Martin, both of whom he has worked with before. 'It's great to give lines to actors like that, you know. You know they're going to be done well,' he said. For the first time, he worked with David Threlfall, who McGovern had admired since he had seen him as Frank Gallagher in Shameless. He said: 'I always saw that as King Lear, because he was just that man in the storm, almost, wasn't he? I think he's an incredible actor.' Unforgivable will air on BBC Two at 9pm on Thursday and will be available on BBC iPlayer from the same day.
Leader Live
26 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Writer Jimmy McGovern praises ‘brave' BBC for airing child abuse drama
The Liverpool-born scriptwriter said he thought he 'had' to write Unforgivable to tell the story – based on an account he heard from a child psychologist – of a convicted sex offender who revealed details of his own abuse after being released from prison. He said that as he was writing it he doubted whether it would ever be aired. The 75-year-old told the PA news agency: 'I wanted to get it right, but the thing that bothered me most was, why am I doing this? Because I have a very strong feeling that the BBC will never do this, because it was not only condemning child abuse, it was trying to understand all the issues about child abuse, and that's not easy for people to take. 'I thought the BBC would say no, but they haven't said no. 'I know that they've been subject to attack at the moment, but it is an extraordinarily brave organisation at times, particularly over drama.' McGovern said as he wrote it he worried about backlash 'more over this particular project than any other' from people who may think it offered a sympathetic view of child abusers. He said: 'People are more than the crime they have committed, aren't they? There is more to any criminal than the crime they committed. 'So, it's finding that within the child abuser that helps you tell the story. 'He is an interesting character. We do not make it easy for him at all. 'The crime of abuse is an appalling crime and should be punished as an appalling crime. We do not make it easy for for our abuser at all, but we do delve into aspects of his life.' The writer said he understood the public reaction to child abusers – having once driven around Liverpool's Sefton Park with a neighbour trying to find a man they believed had tried to touch their children. 'All we knew was the man who did it had blue running shorts on,' he said. 'We went, we toured around Sefton Park looking for a man, any man, in blue running shorts and we were going to kill him. Thank God we did not find such a man. 'I excuse myself by saying probably most men would have reacted that way.' McGovern said he always wanted actor Bobby Schofield, who appeared in the writer's prison series Time, to play the role of abuser Joe Mitchell. He said: 'He's tremendous in it. He doesn't curry favour at all. What he does do is he plays self-disgust really well and he is a man who hates himself.' The one-off TV film also sees McGovern working with Anna Friel and Anna Maxwell Martin, both of whom he has worked with before. 'It's great to give lines to actors like that, you know. You know they're going to be done well,' he said. For the first time, he worked with David Threlfall, who McGovern had admired since he had seen him as Frank Gallagher in Shameless. He said: 'I always saw that as King Lear, because he was just that man in the storm, almost, wasn't he? I think he's an incredible actor.' Unforgivable will air on BBC Two at 9pm on Thursday and will be available on BBC iPlayer from the same day.
North Wales Chronicle
26 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Writer Jimmy McGovern praises ‘brave' BBC for airing child abuse drama
The Liverpool-born scriptwriter said he thought he 'had' to write Unforgivable to tell the story – based on an account he heard from a child psychologist – of a convicted sex offender who revealed details of his own abuse after being released from prison. He said that as he was writing it he doubted whether it would ever be aired. The 75-year-old told the PA news agency: 'I wanted to get it right, but the thing that bothered me most was, why am I doing this? Because I have a very strong feeling that the BBC will never do this, because it was not only condemning child abuse, it was trying to understand all the issues about child abuse, and that's not easy for people to take. 'I thought the BBC would say no, but they haven't said no. 'I know that they've been subject to attack at the moment, but it is an extraordinarily brave organisation at times, particularly over drama.' McGovern said as he wrote it he worried about backlash 'more over this particular project than any other' from people who may think it offered a sympathetic view of child abusers. He said: 'People are more than the crime they have committed, aren't they? There is more to any criminal than the crime they committed. 'So, it's finding that within the child abuser that helps you tell the story. 'He is an interesting character. We do not make it easy for him at all. 'The crime of abuse is an appalling crime and should be punished as an appalling crime. We do not make it easy for for our abuser at all, but we do delve into aspects of his life.' The writer said he understood the public reaction to child abusers – having once driven around Liverpool's Sefton Park with a neighbour trying to find a man they believed had tried to touch their children. 'All we knew was the man who did it had blue running shorts on,' he said. 'We went, we toured around Sefton Park looking for a man, any man, in blue running shorts and we were going to kill him. Thank God we did not find such a man. 'I excuse myself by saying probably most men would have reacted that way.' McGovern said he always wanted actor Bobby Schofield, who appeared in the writer's prison series Time, to play the role of abuser Joe Mitchell. He said: 'He's tremendous in it. He doesn't curry favour at all. What he does do is he plays self-disgust really well and he is a man who hates himself.' The one-off TV film also sees McGovern working with Anna Friel and Anna Maxwell Martin, both of whom he has worked with before. 'It's great to give lines to actors like that, you know. You know they're going to be done well,' he said. For the first time, he worked with David Threlfall, who McGovern had admired since he had seen him as Frank Gallagher in Shameless. He said: 'I always saw that as King Lear, because he was just that man in the storm, almost, wasn't he? I think he's an incredible actor.' Unforgivable will air on BBC Two at 9pm on Thursday and will be available on BBC iPlayer from the same day.
