Beginning her radio career at Rock FM Adele Roberts quickly progressed to presenting the late show for Galaxy and then becoming a breakfast presenter for 105 Captial FM, Yorkshires number 1 Radio Station.

In addition to her radio career, Adele is also an accomplished DJ and has also hosted a number of TV shows for both regional and satellite broadcasters.  She fronted "Attitude", a youth entertainment show made by Daisybeck Productions for Yorkshire TV and "The Big Story', a current affairs programme tackling various news stories of the day in front of a live studio audience.

Adele has a wealth of experience when it comes to dealing with and recognizing talent and has sat on the judging panel for MOBO Unsung and the World Under 18 DMC Championships.   From its very early days Adele has been a strong supporter of the work of Northern Drama Acting School and we are honoured to have her as a patron.

Adele can be heard broadcasting her show every Saturday and Sunday from 1-4pm on BBC Radio 1Xtra.

*Photo by Caroline Purdy

Nick Bagnall started life as an actor, before becoming a successful Director working on a variety of projects and is the Artistic Director of The Milton Rooms.

His directing credits include productions for Birmingham Rep, Liverpool Everyman, Hampstead Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Royal Court and Shakespeare's Globe.

He directed John Simm in 'Betrayal' for The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield and Imelda Staunton & Mathew Horne in 'Entertaining Mr Sloane' for the Trafalgar studios.

Currently he is in rehearsal with two productions at Manchester Royal Exchange.

Nick has created and led acting and directing workshops for the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse as well as developing creative workshops for Teambuilding, Bonney/Klein and Jamberry.

The son of a South Yorkshire coal miner, Brian Blessed was born in Mexborough and grew up in the mining village of Goldthorpe. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before beginning a distinguished and varied career, which has encompassed all media. Brian is now one of this country’s best known and most highly respected actors.

Countless television roles include; ‘PC Fancy Smith’ in Z CARS; ‘Porthos’ in THE THREE MUSKETEERS; ‘‘Richard IV’ in BLACK ADDER; the larger than life ‘Squire Western’ in the BBC’s classic drama series TOM JONES, the ‘Laughing Cavalier’ in ADAM’S FAMILY TREE, ‘Sir Morris’ in the award winning animated series THE BIG KNIGHTS (BBC), and ‘Sir David Fawcett’ in THE ROYAL for ITV.

On Film, Brian played ‘‘Vultan’ in the ever popular FLASH GORDON; ‘Pedro’ in MAN OF LA MANCHA; ‘Long John Silver’ in RETURN TO TREASURE ISLAND; and ‘Lord Locksley’ in ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES with Kevin Costner. In Kenneth Branagh’s HENRY V he played ‘Exeter’, in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING he played ‘Antonio’ and in hamlet he played ‘Hamlet’s Father and the Ghost’. He played ‘Boss Nass’ in George Lucas’ STAR WARS, THE PHANTOM MENACE, and the role of ‘The Pirate Captain’ in PIRATES – BAND OF MISFITS for Ardmann.

Brian has worked with some of this country’s great orchestras. At the Royal Festival Hall he appeared with The London Symphony Orchestra and massed choirs performing Arthur Bliss’ MORNING HEROES. He followed this with the inevitable PETER AND THE WOLF with the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra in Birmingham, Prokofiev’s IVAN THE TERRIBLE with the Royal National Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow and he has recorded A YOUNG PERSONS GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA..

Brian has written five books; THE TURQUOISE MOUNTAIN, THE DYNAMITE KID, NOTHING’S IMPOSSIBLE, BLESSED EVEREST, an inspiring abbreviated history of Everest, which includes many magnificent photographs and QUEST to the lost world. Brian loves writing and would write a great deal more if he could find the time!

Since the late sixties Brian has had a great love of mountaineering and a great desire to stand on ‘the top of the world’. He has been on three expeditions to Mount Everest. The first to make the film GALAHAD OF EVEREST, a tribute to George Leigh Mallory. In 1993 he returned to Everest, this time to climb the Southern side where he reached a height of 28,000 feet – the highest a man of his age has achieved without oxygen. He returned to the Northern side in 1996 when the climb was filmed by a Channel 4 Television team as part of the ENCOUNTERS series. Brian has also completed a trek to the North Pole, an expedition to The Lost World in Venezuela, a climb to the summit of Mount Ararat in Turkey at 17,000 feet and a climb to the summit of Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia.

More recently Brian played “The Narrator” in the UK and in New York, in Prokofiev’s PETER & THE WOLF, he also played ‘Captain Goitre’ IN THE CGI SKETCH SHOW, ‘Henry Vlll’ in HENRY 8.0, and ‘The Nekross King’ in two series of ALIENS V WIZARDS all for the BBC. He also made a Second Guest Appearance as ‘The Host’ on HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU.

Brian lives in Surrey with his wife, the actress Hildegard Neil. They share their home with numerous dogs, ponies, cats, ducks and fish !! They have one daughter, Rosalind, who is also an actress

We're really pleased to have Steven Waddington supporting the work of N:DAS.

Leeds born Steven has made a name for himself in Film and TV after making his debut at the RSC following graduation from East 15.

He has worked with directors such as Neil Jordan (Breakfast on Pluto), Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow), Antonia Bird (Face) and Ridley Scott (Conquest of Paradise).

On TV he has been seen in such productions as 'The Syndicate II' for Kay Mellor, 'Titanic', 'Waterloo Road', 'Garrow's Law' and 'The Tudors'.