Actress Pauline Quirke on the hunt for new talent in Hampshire

Pauline Quirke, who is best known for her role as Sharon in the hit BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather, is on the lookout for talented teenagers from Hampshire, who have a passion for performing arts to take part in auditions to join The Pauline Quirke Full-time Academy of Performing Arts at the PQA Studios London in King's Cross, London's newest full-time drama school.

Pauline launched the school this September when the first class of students aged between 16 and 19 started studying for a two-year Diploma course, at the end of which they will be awarded an OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma in Performing Arts (a Level 3 qualification), the equivalent to three A Levels.

The academy is based in the original Poor School building in Pentonville Road, King's Cross, which closed last year after three decades, just a stone's throw from where Pauline herself went to school, and discovered acting, at the age of nine.

Pauline's team has completely renovated the building, which now has a fully equipped in-house theatre and several large, high spec studio spaces, and it reopens as PQA Studios London in September.

Pauline said: "Over the years, we have had many requests for further training from students and parents.

“We are now thrilled and extremely excited about the next chapter of PQA, with the launch of our full-time academy at PQA Studios London, catering for those students (both students attending our weekend academies and further afield) who wish to take the next steps in furthering a career in the performing arts industry."

"It feels like PQA is coming home, as Islington is where I grew up, and where I started my own training."

Pauline is holding full-day auditions on November 22 at the school in PQA Studios in Islington, London. The audition day includes a full timetable of group and individual sessions.

Auditions for next year are on February 21, April 11 and June 27.

For more information, go to pqastudios.com.