A Conversation With Shobna Gulati

FREE Event part of KHUSHI 2022 - a brand-new festival showcasing work made by Oldham's South Asian communities - the Oldham-born star chats about her life, her career and her recently published book "Remember Me? Discovering My Mother as She Lost Her Memory."

Shobna became a household name for her role as Anita in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies and as Sunita in Coronation Street. She also appeared as a presenter on Loose Women (ITV), and most recently starred in Series 1 of the BBC One television show River Walks.

On radio, Shobna hosted her own late night show on BBC Radio Manchester, and has appeared in many plays for BBC Radio 4, most recently in the sitcom The Break.

She has appeared in numerous films including Everybody's Talking About Jamie.

Theatre credits include: The Rise And Fall of Little Voice (National Tour, Aria Ents), Glass Half Full); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); Richard II (The Globe); Everybody's Talking About Jamie (The Apollo Theatre, LA and tour); Daisy Pulls It Off (The Park); Anita & Me (Birmingham Rep Touring Consortium); Grease (Leicester Curve); Mamma Mia International Tour 2015-2016, John Godber's April in Paris (Derby Playhouse National Tour); B!rth, Hunger for Trade, Come Closer Pretend You Have Big Buildings, Cafe Vesuvio (Royal Exchange, Manchester); How High is Up?, The Jungle Book (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Dinnerladies, Girl's Night (National Tour); The Vagina Monologues (Mark Goucher Ltd); Romeo and Juliet, Crazy Lady (Leicester Haymarket, Contact Theatre); The Mikado (New Vic Stoke and Stephen Joseph Theatre); A Midsummer Night?s Dream (Tara Arts National Tour); Moti Roti Puttli Chunni, Blaggers, and D'yer Eat with Your Fingers? (Theatre Royal, Stratford East).

Television credits include: My Name is Leon (BBC); Hullraisers (Channel 4); Murder They Hope 1&2 (UKTV); 4Stories - On the Edge (Blacklight Productions); Doctor Who (BBC); Moving On (LA Productions); River City (BBC Scotland); Treasure Champs (CBeebies); Casualty (BBC); Doctors (BBC); Coronation Street (ITV); Hold The Sunset (BBC); In the Club (BBC); Eastenders (BBC); New Street Law (BBC); Magnolia (BBC); Paranoid (ITV1RedNetflix); You, Me and Them (UKTV Gold); The Slammer (CBBC); Jackanory (CBBC); Bedtime Stories (Cbeebies); Coming Up (Channel 4); Where The Heart Is (ITV1); and dinnerladies (BBC).

As a panellist she has appeared on Call My Bluff, Have I Got News For You and Countdown and was a regular on ITV's Loose Women until 2014. She appeared in Best Home Cook and was a semi-finalist in Celebrity Masterchef for the BBC, and has appeared in Soapstar Superstar and Stars in their Eyes for ITV.Shobna has also worked extensively as a dancer and choreographer in regional theatres and also in community and education settings across the UK. Between 1992 and 1994 she was a dance animateur for Yorkshire and Humberside.

She trained at Manchester University, Trinity Laban Conservatorie of Music and Dance, Goldsmith's College, London, Darpana Academy for Performing Arts, India, and has also completed a post graduate diploma in teaching dance from Middlesex University. She is a Doctor from Bolton University, University of Huddersfield and Sheffield Hallam, and is Chancellor of The Children's University, Oldham. She is also a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester.