A BUDDING actress has won a scholarship to a London drama school.

Jodie Taibi, 20, of Roslyn Street, Darlington, will start a three-year degree at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, in Kensington, in September.

The scholarship will pay her tuition fees.

She said: "I have been working towards this for the past three years and I have done auditions and found them quite gruelling.

"When I went for my audition I made it quite clear that I wouldn't have been able to go without a dance and drama award.

"Some people have to go back after their first audition but I was just offered the place. Now I'm trying to keep a level head about everything."

Miss Taibi, a former pupil of Carmel RC technology College and Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form, has been a member of Darlington Stagecoach Theatre School for the past six years.

She recently appeared in her first full stage role in A Midsummer Night's Dream at St Augustine's Church, Darlington.