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 Bella Hamblin
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‘When All of This is Over’ – Louingham Productions – March 2021

As we approach a year into this pandemic, it feels like it’s a time for reflection and many people share their own personal stories on how it was/is for them during Lockdown. Bradford Literature Festival commissioned prolific film maker Lou Murrall from Louingham Productions, to film a short film featuring the poem ‘When All This Is Over’ by the wonderful Brummie spoken word poet Polarbear.   Read more


BBC ‘Doctors’ – February 2021

A new year and yet another Lockdown! Not only do I have to spend every waking hour with my husband, but recently we also got to ‘work’ together! As I’ve mentioned before, ‘bubbled couples’ have become quite sort after. We were therefore thrilled to be asked by the BBC to play a couple in their popular daytime soap ‘Doctors’.   Read more


‘Covid and Me’ – Theatre of Debate – November  2020

I was lucky enough to be asked to take part in a fantastic project with Theatre of Debate and the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).  ‘Covid and Me’ are a series of Monologues specifically aimed to show how people from ‘underserved’ communities have been affected by Covid and to encourage them to enlist in vaccine trials.   Read more


Napoleon videos (ongoing …)

My good friend, actor, writer, Napoleon look alike and all-round good guy, Patrick Hayes asked me to help him rejuvenate his YouTube channel featuring his Napoleon character. So, during the year, Patrick has filmed several little skits to celebrate certain anniversaries like Napoleon’s birthday, the Battle of Waterloo, Valentine’s Day and many more.   Read more


‘P&O Ferries’ Commercial Shoot – September  2020

One good thing for us that came out of Lockdown, was the new term ‘bubbled couples’. This went in our favour when a top brand was looking for a bubbled couple for their most recent television commercial. So, Sean and I set up our shed with our green screen and lights and recorded a self-tape for our audition.   Read more


‘It Came From The Darkness’ – August  2020

I remember waking early one Saturday wanting something to keep me busy for a few hours. Luckily scrolling through Facebook, I noticed a post from a friend of mine, fellow actor and writer Laurence Saunders, saying he’d written a few short stories for a charity Horror Anthology, ‘It Came From the Darkness’.   Read more


‘The Wonderland Challenge’ - May 2020
The Hearth Centre – ‘Tales of Lockdown’ – July 2020
Birmingham Rep – ‘Pilot Nights’ - Feb 2020

Like many others, during Lockdown I had the daily challenge of finding things to do to keep busy, but I also wanted to try and fill the desperate pulling need to do something worthwhile. My husband Sean Connolly, also an actor and voice artist (he can thank me for the plug later!) is always busy, always has something on the go, even during Lockdown.   Read more


Wow, cor blimey, what a difficult, unprecedented year 2020 became. Everyone struggled to find a way to get through it. I felt the first Lockdown became a time for reflection, to be grateful for all the small things around me. I’m very lucky to have had my family and my garden to keep me company and give me a focus.   Read more


In early Feb 2020 I was lucky enough to direct a small extract of a new play in development called ‘Drift’ by Georgia Clare and Greg Hobbs. ‘Drift’ was part of a great programme of pieces at Birmingham Rep’s – ‘Pilot Nights’ at the Door Theatre. When Georgia first asked me to be involved at the beginning of the year, she stressed that I would be the director first but also play a very minor role, who had a small speech at the start of the extract.   Read more


‘DI Ray’ – ITV Drama – May 2022

At last I did some filming without my husband Sean, I mean that in the nicest possible way! There was a lot of buzz surrounding the new Birmingham-based ITV police drama ‘DI Ray’, so I was delighted when I landed a nice role in episode 3. It was great to play a very gritty character in a brand new series set in the city where I trained.   Read more


‘The Archers’ – BBC Radio 4 – August 2022

While I was gearing up to celebrate my birthday in mid-July, the country was sweltering under quite staggering, record-breaking temperatures. Little did I realise that I was about to get a surprise call to come in and record a last minute episode on the worlds longest-running drama of any type ‘The Archers’, what a lovely birthday treat!!   Read more


‘Casualty’ – BBC Television – November 2022/February 2023

I was thrilled to be cast in ‘Casualty’ as the somewhat scary Dr Moira Murphy, or as the Radio Times described her, the 'fearsome' Dr Moira Murphy in two episodes of the award-winning BBC medical drama! It was great filming in Cardiff over a number of days, it gave me time to really get inside the character.   Read more


‘The Rookie’ – Royal Birmingham Conservatoire - Film Script - August 2023

Last year I wrote script for the Graduating Students at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire of Acting. There were quite strict guidelines for submitting it so I was over the moon that it was eventually selected. As this provides the actors with ‘showcase’ material once they graduate, I did my best to distribute the lines fairly so they all got a good showing out of it.   Read more