17th March 2025
Successful actor and writer Andi Osho visited Barking & Dagenham College’s book club and English students.
Andi, a proud Barking & Dagenham College alumnus, studied Performing Arts when she did A-levels between 1989 and 1991. She has since built an impressive acting career, while also writing two novels and, for a time, was a comedian.
Visiting the BDC Book Club and English learners, Andi read a short excerpt from her latest book 'Tough Crowd' in a special event hosted in the College’s library.
Students got the chance to ask Andi some questions about her book and her journey so far as a writer. Some were understandably very interested in her acting career; she’s currently filming the third series of BBC’s Blue Lights.
Student Oluwatobi Adebona, 17, was thrilled to meet her, enthusing: “Andi is a brilliant person. We discussed her book Tough Crowd, and I was impressed by her knowledge and that she has so much expertise as an author, comedian and actor. It was a pleasure chatting with her."
It wasn’t just students who were keen to tap into Andi’s expertise, lecturer Samuel Nelson is writing his own novel and has produced 25,000 words so far. Samuel was very keen to ask Andi for some advice. He said, “It was brilliant speaking to Andi, she gave me some great tips!”
Andi’s first TV work was in Eastenders, acting as a nurse, she had some scenes with Eastenders veteran Sonia and met original cast member Wendy Richard. A student asked what her character’s name was: “It was nurse 1, I didn’t have a name!”, Andi mused, “I actually played a nurse four times in Eastenders, I even delivered Honey’s baby, so you could say I’m qualified, haha!”
She was asked lots of questions, for example, about how to achieve success, Andi explained “it requires discipline and tenacity. Having a growth mindset and acknowledging that ‘I don’t know, but I can learn’ is important.”
On her favourite show, she found it hard to choose, as each has own merits, although when pressed she said, “A Sky show called Curfew as it had A-listers, such as Sean Bean and Billy Zane, stunts and zombies in it. That was really fun.”
Claire Cockburn, Learning Resource Centre & Community Coordinator said: “A huge thank you to Andi for coming to visit our learners – it was a lovely event!”
