Spring Walks: Sara Davies and Nina Wadia reflect on family, career and challenges as they walk through Yorkshire countryside

Wadia is known for roles including Mrs Hussein in BBC comedy Still Open All Hours and Zainab Masood in EastEnders. She was recognised as the latter character when visiting the Yorkshire Dales for the first time for BBC Four show Spring Walks.

“People would go ‘oh it’s Zainab from EastEnders’ as they walked past me. I think they thought it was weird to see me in the middle of the Dales,” she laughs.

Spring Walks sees familiar faces reflect on their life experiences and talk candidly about inner thoughts, emotions and loved ones whilst walking across Yorkshire with only a 360-degree camera for company.

Wadia says she was taken aback by the “picture-perfect” landscape as she explored Swaledale.

A keen walker, she has travelled the world, but her first trip to the Yorkshire countryside had a profound effect and when her episode airs this evening, viewers will see her reflect on personal family challenges, including her son being diagnosed with type one diabetes, the loss of her parents, and her experience in a “hideous” car crash.

“I found the walking experience a little bit disconcerting and a little bit scary because when it’s just you, you force yourself to think about things you don’t necessarily want to think about,” the mum-of-two says.

“I found it brought up a lot of memories that I think I had buried and pushed down a bit, upsetting and sad memories.

"That’s why it was a bit scary - I don’t like going there because that brings me down and I consider myself quite an up person.”

Last night’s episode of Spring Walks saw Dragons’ Den investor and entrepreneur Sara Davies explore the Swinton Estate in North Yorkshire.

She was hoping viewers would see “another side” of her and that it would push her out of her comfort zone.

“I’ve done a lot of work at looking into different personality types and because of that, I have learnt that I’m an extrovert as opposed to an introvert.

"I’m someone who loves to be around other people and I work best when I can bounce off other people’s energy so I knew that going on a walk completely alone would be something that was completely out of my comfort zone.

"You’d think as someone who has a busy life as a business owner and a mam of two kids I’d feel the complete opposite.

"I have to say that I loved the experience, I met some really interesting, lovely people and enjoyed forcing myself to just take some time out and enjoy the beautiful countryside.”

As she walked, Sara spoke of the challenges she faced as a young businesswoman after starting her Crafter's Companion company whilst a student at the University of York.

Thoughts on life, family and motherhood sat alongside reflections on the impact of her participation in Strictly Come Dancing and how it helped her to show vulnerability.

"I think sometimes we get so caught up in our day to day lives that we forget to stand back and take stock of what we’ve achieved so far in our lives and the things that we have to be thankful for,” she says.

“So, [on the walk], I found myself looking right back to the start of my life, growing up with my mam and dad and the values that they instilled in me as a kid and how that set me on the path that I’m on today.”

You can’t help but look into yourself, Wadia says. “The wider the scenery gets the more insular your thoughts get.

"I reflect on stuff I don’t talk about publicly because it’s not necessarily things people need to know about me as an actor. I’ve always let my work speak for itself.

"But this was not an acting job, this was something I don’t normally do. I think should I have done it?

"But mentally I felt so good for the month afterwards, almost like there was a bit of a release for me, like I’d shared some things that had kept me down.”

The open space was a far cry from her “cramped and crowded” birthplace of Bombay in India.

She grew up in Hong Kong, and in her late teens was faced with a decision over whether to train to be a lawyer, a career dream her mother wasn’t able to afford to fulfil, or to pursue a career in acting instead.

Being cast as Lady Bracknell in a school production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest during her A-level year set her mind in one direction and Wadia begged her parents to study drama in the UK.

“I got so much enjoyment doing that play,” she says. “You come off stage and you feel really buzzing. It’s a really natural drug.”

She’s finding nature to be another. “Nature was my therapist [on the walk] in a way because it allowed me, when I was looking at such beautiful things, to feel safe and want to purge. That was very new for me,” she says.

“If people take anything away from the show, I hope they understand that doing something like this might really help to heal them if they’re hurting in some way.”

Spring Walks has been produced by Atypical and is a co-commission by BBC Four and BBC England.

The latest episode will air at 7.30pm on BBC Four.