Samara

I am from Edinburgh and now living and working as a writer and actor in Perthshire where, after many years in London, I moved with my partner Joe and our young son, Angus. We have recently welcomed our our baby daughter, Hester, who was born in September 2023.

I went to St Andrews' University, and while I was there I acted and directed in numerous performances as well as working for the University's listening service; Nightline. While a student, I also travelled extensively in Brazil, Ghana, Canada, China and Mongolia where I taught English as a foreign language.

After graduating from university I worked for the Edinburgh International Science Festival, travelling around Scotland and performing in science education shows for 5-12 year olds.

I moved to London in 2006, to commence my training as an actress at LAMDA. I loved drama school and find my chosen career to be challenging, inspiring and thoroughly rewarding. As an actor, I have worked in radio, television and theatre. I am now also a writer and in 2018 I was selected from over 3000 applicants to join the BBC’s television script writing mentorship program; The Drama Room. I have written a ten part detective series for BBC Learning, which filmed in 2020 and in 2021 I had scripts optioned by Potboiler Productions and Mam Tor Productions. I am currently being mentored by The Writer's Lab UK and Ireland .

I think that in education the most important thing is to be interested and enthused by whatever you are studying. So, depending on age and level of study I always try to find something within the subject to spark the pupil's imagination and fire their enthusiasm for the topic.

I most commonly teach and prepare students for their 11+ and 13+ entrance exams. These exams can be very tough for children and I try to make the experience as positive and enjoyable as possible. I try to maintain a calm, supportive environment in our lessons and for the student to feel confident and well prepared when they come to sit their exams.

When I am working with older students in English, I believe exam and essay writing technique is essential. I think often children are not taught the basic technique of logically and intelligently conveying and concluding an argument and this is the key to exam success! My study of Philosophy has given me an excellent grounding in founding logical, clear arguments.

I am a writer and an actress and I work on stage, television and radio. I have also written and produced work for the stage. I am a member of innovative theatre company The Factory and regularly appear in plays on Radio 4. I currently have two scripts under option with television production companies.