Nadia Sawalha

Nadia Sawalha (/s ə ˈ w ə l x ə / ; born 18 November 1964) is an English actress, television personality, writer, TV cook and vlogger. She is best known as a long-term regular panellist on the ITV daytime talk show Loose Women, being one of the original panellists from its start in 1999 until 2002, before returning to the show in 2013 after a panellist revamp. She played the role of Gina in ITV comedy Second Thoughts from 1992 to 1994, and Annie Palmer on the BBC One soap opera EastEnders from 1997 to 1999. She has also had minor roles in The Bill, Casualty, Benidorm and 99-1 and presented a number of television programmes in the early 2000s, whilst taking a break from Loose Women.

After winning the 2007 series of Celebrity MasterChef, Sawalha has been cooking with her sister Dina on YouTube since January 2023. She prefers this to being on television, as they can do what they like.

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 and has appeared during most weeks in the last decade.

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, one series each of Total , TV Mail, Heir Hunters, Perfect Partner and Family Exchange. She was 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 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 could 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 one series of 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 one series of 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. From the 2012 series, Sawalha was replaced by Irish cook Donal Skehan.

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

From 15 February until 20 August 2010, Sawalha presented a series of the reality programme Instant Restaurant for BBC Two.

In July 2011, Sawalha guest presented ITV Breakfast programme Lorraine and made a total of 17 appearances on the show, as a relief presenter and as a resident chef.

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. The same year, Sawalha presented the UKTV Home series Kitchen SOS.[citation needed ]

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

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.

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. The series lasted one season and was replaced by John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen.

Sawalha now hosts a podcast with her husband. In How to Stay Married (So Far), they talk about the ups and downs of married life.

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.

Sawalha launched a Sawalha-Adderley YouTube channel. The Sawalha-Adderleys (Originally Nadia Sawalha and Family) on Monday 25 August 2014, featuring Sawalha with her husband Mark Adderley.[10] Also regularly appearing are Adderley's mother Diane Adderley and Sawalha's sister Dina.

The channel began as a film and TV show review where Sawalha, Adderley and sometimes their children would review films coming out in the cinema, or a popular TV show on television. But by the end of 2014, her 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 but their children no longer appear in their content.[citation needed ]

In December 2016, the channel launched a subscription to the channel. 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', and an occasional livestream for members only.[11]

In February 2019, the channel reached 50,000 subscribers.[12] On 4 May 2020, the channel reached 100k and received a "silver play button".[citation needed ]

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. However, the family pulled out of the performance after hearing of Nadia's husband's death.[15]

Sawalha has suffered from psoriasis and has used homeopathy rather than conventional treatment.[16] In 2019, Sawalha revealed on Loose Women that she suffers from tinnitus.[citation needed ]

On 25 December 1997, Sawalha's first husband Justin Mildwater ended his life by suicide.[17] They had been married for five years, but had split up a few months before.[18][19][20][21]

On 6 June 2002, she married her second husband, Mark Adderley. The following year, he was caught on the M4 near Chippenham at more than two times over the drink-drive limit.[22]

Sawalha is an atheist.[23]

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, the start of the menopause. She said that a doctor told her in September 2016 she had the balding gene.[24]

On 25 November 2022, Sawalha announced on Loose Women that she had been diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 58.[25]