Jessica Robinson on life after Over the Rainbow

JESSICA ROBINSON is still on cloud nine after having what she describes as “the best few month of my life”. She has just returned to Teesside after staring in BBC1 show Over The Rainbow. Reporter Sophie Barley visited the talented 18-year-old at her Normanby home to relive her Rainbow experience and talk about her joy to be home.


HER family, friends, Saltburn beach and Boro parmos were what Jessica Robinson missed the most when she was away from Teesside staring in a hit BBC show.

Jessica, 18, is now coming back down to earth after her dreams became a reality when she made the final five in Over the Rainbow.

The winner of the show will win the lead role of Dorothy in the new West End show, The Wizard of Oz.

Jessica was eliminated from the competition on Sunday despite getting consistently good comments from the judges.

She is now reflecting on the last few months and said the enormity of the experience has still not hit her.

She said: “Now that I am back I can see how massive the whole thing was. When you are down there you are in a bubble. You don’t realise how many people are watching.

“It still hasn’t hit me. People are stopping me in the street and I am finding it so strange.”

Jessica went to St Gabriel’s Primary School followed by St Peter’s Secondary School, in Normanby Road. She then went on to do a performing arts course at Stockton Riverside College.

She gained her performing skills at Middlesbrough Youth Theatre for which she was a member for more than six years.

She said: “I learned everything in Middlesbrough and that’s where it all started.

“I have loved singing since I was about six. But I think the performing side came the first time I stepped out on a stage. Normally you should feel nervous when you go out on a big stage but I didn’t at all. I loved it.”

Jessica auditioned for Over the Rainbow in Manchester in January and said she only went for a laugh.


She said: “I really didn’t expect anything from it. I just thought I would give it a go. But each audition went really well. I got more nervous as it went on but I just took each stage as it came.”

She was eventually picked for the TV finals.

She said: “I always thought I would be really nervous and scared performing live on a Saturday night but you just don’t think about it when you are there. You actually forget the cameras are there and that six million people are watching.

“I loved every show. They were so much fun and as the weeks went by all the girls became really good friends.”

After Jessica performed There You’ll Be by Faith Hill, Andrew Lloyd Webber described her as a “world class performer”.

She said: “I didn’t know what to do when he said that. It was fantastic. To hear that from him is just amazing.

“All the judges were really nice. I liked Charlotte Church a lot. She is so down to earth.

“When she came into one of my auditions she just walked in and said “my heels are killing me” so she just took them off.

“She is great and someone I really looked up to.”

During the show Jessica said she missed home and came home several times for a reality check.

She said: “I did come home quite a bit as I really missed everyone and it was good to get away from it all for a bit.

“One of the things I missed the most were parmos. I love them. I made one of the girls one when we were in London and she loved it.”

Jessica said she was not disappointed to leave the show and will return on Saturday to watch the remaining four finalists battle it out.

She said: “I never ever expected to get as far as I did. I still can’t get over the fact that I made the final five.

“The show has given me invaluable experience in this industry.”

Throughout the show Jessica received huge support from the people of Teesside.

She said: “I want to thank everyone who supported and voted for me. It was amazing and I didn’t expect that at all.”

In September Jessica will start a three year degree at ArtsEd stage school in London after she gained a scholarship to attend.

She said: “I am really looking forward to starting the course.

“From this whole experience I now know that performing is the only thing I want to do.

“Performing in the West End is the ultimate dream.

“When I am on stage I like to make people laugh. It is the best feeling in the world.”

However even the bright lights of London could never take away Jessica’s Boro roots.

She said: “Yeah they will never go. I will always be a Boro lass.”

If anyone that really knows Jess reads this...

Please pass on my very bestest wishes. I believe she is by far the most exciting stage performer we have seen in years.

PS. I live in Northants so I have no biase toward 'bora ! just one Supercalifragilistic young lady.....

Ed.

Keltic Ed

Re: your PS... Here, here! : )

Michael W