Interview - Valerie Jackson: Where famous faces began long hard path to stardom

DO you have a great voice? Wonderful stage presence? A talent that puts you above mere mortals? That which we describe as the elusive X factor?

Then you have the ingredients that could be your passport to fame and fortune.

Talent shows continue to expand at a worrying rate and confirm Andy Warhol's suspicions that we will all eventually enjoy our 15 minutes under the spotlight.

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We have always had talent shows, of course. New Faces and Opportunity Knocks gave us Paul Daniels, Frank Carson, Lenny Henry, Dave Allen, Victoria Wood. But with those shows there was one key difference

to the mutated monsters they have become today – a talent threshold.

To get to the stage where millions watched your act on a television screen, there were quality controls in place. You had to demonstrate a considerable talent to get to the stage where the public saw you. The key difference with Popstars, Pop Idol,Britain's Got Talent, X Factor and all that have followed in their wake is that we are privy to the audition process.

As a result, even if you have limited talent, you can get your face on screen and, from there, into the hallowed church of celebrity. Take the Cheeky Girls, Jedward and Chico as examples.

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This weekend Andrew Lloyd Webber starts the search for a Dorothy to star in a new West End production of The Wizard of Oz via his new BBC 1 show Over The Rainbow.

Previous shows have found Sir Andrew a Maria, a Joseph, a Nancy and an Oliver (well, more than one actually) making stars of the "chosen ones" and generating not a little criticism of the process now taking over the traditional hard route to fame and fortune.

Performers complain that this easy access to fame devalues their craft. At one time, fame was a by-product of talent and skill – and dedication to honing those gifts.

Actors and performers spend money, time, sweat, on mastering their talent; attending schools, often going through gruelling training, to hone their skills and become the best performers they can be.

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Valerie Jackson understands this shifting of the goal posts. Few are as well placed to witness how perfecting craft has been overtaken by "becoming famous" as an ambition for young people over recent years.

Mrs Jackson, as she is known to the thousands of young people who have passed through her Bradford drama school, Stage 84, has been

responsible for the performance careers of hundreds of young people

from Yorkshire.

Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh, Coronation Street's Jack Shepherd, who plays David Platt, Nikki Patel, who plays Amber on Coronation Street, Bradley Johnson, who played a young Blake Morrison in the move And When Did You Last See Your Father? and many others whose faces are recognisable, learnt their stagecraft at Mrs Jackson's school. One of her first successes was Sally Walsh, the older sister of Girls Aloud's Kimberley, who also first trod the boards at Stage 84. Sally's first role came at the end of the Eighties in Tumbledown Farm, a Yorkshire Television production.

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Mrs Jackson says: "She was the first of my children to get a television part. I remember walking through the centre of Bradford and I knew the programme was about to start.

"This was long before you could record things on Sky or see things again. If you missed it, you missed it. So I went in to a shop which sold televisions and sat in the window watching the show."

Mrs Jackson's rigorous approach to discipline and an impressive dedication to her young charges all help in creating these future television stars, but she agrees that the "X factor" is important in determining the future prospects of aspiring young stars. It's

something to do with a natural acting ability and a confidence on stage and a personality.

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"Those things all add up to someone who could be a star. Like with Jack (Shepherd), it wasn't something you could see initially, because he just didn't want to be there, but after those first couple of days, when he was a bit more comfortable, it was so obvious," says Mrs

Jackson.

"There was something about him when he was on stage that I could see straight away. I remember thinking that if he kept on with it, he would definitely be a star."

However, not all the children who come through Stage 84, have star quality. With fame now a commodity more desirable than a new gadget from Apple, how do you deal with parents who want their child to be the next big thing, when they have more chance of serving the next Big Mac?

Mrs Jackson says: "I have a girl at the minute who is going to go a long way. There is a real quality about her – it's that thing where she is comfortable on stage and she has the personality that comes through when she's performing.

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"That's something that makes a big difference, when a child has a lot of personality and they are able to put that out when they get on to the stage.

"Sometimes there are children who just aren't going to be stars, but that's not all we are about.

"We help children grow in confidence and give them a chance to make friends and learn about discipline and all kinds of other things.

"Before a child comes to me, I almost always get a phone call from a parent saying their child is really something special, and I always think, 'Well, let's wait and see them, shall we?'"

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Once the children are in the school – which has an enormous waiting list – parents often expect fame and television to be around the corner. It is not always the way.

Mrs Jackson, who received an MBE for services to the arts in the Queen's New Years Honours this year, finds herself often playing diplomat. She says: "If a parent says, 'Why haven't they been put forward for any auditions yet?', I just say that the children aren't ready yet and that it's best to wait a few months.

"Sometimes the children won't get television work, but that's not what they come for.

"The children get so many different things from learning drama, that working on television, or stage or film is actually just an extra bonus."

Or, of course, they could audition for X Factor.

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