STRAWBERRY blonde Alex Nuttall is set to win the hearts of TV viewers in Britain when she stars in a commercial for a leading confectionery company being filmed in South Africa.

The five-year-old blue-eyed pupil at St John the Baptist School, Padiham, has been with Manchester-based Tuesday's Child model agency for 18 months.

Already she has modelled for Great Universal Stores catalogue, the Early Learning Centre and school education books.

But her starring role in the TV commercial is the icing on the cake for the child star.

Proud mum Tracey Shiels, of Rosegrove, said: "She went to auditions in Manchester and then had to go to an autition in London, when there were just two finalists and Alex was picked for the part.

"We are not allowed to say who she is working for but it is a leading confectionery company and she will have lines to learn for the commercial.

"We will fly out to Cape Town for a week for filming and I am very excited about it."

Tracey, a lollipop lady at Alex's school, has two sons Aaron, nine, and six-year-old Ashton. She first heard about the model agency when she worked for Great Universal Stores and put Alex forward.

Tracey had to apply for a special licence so that Alex could work abroad for the model agency, but now the paper work is complete they are both looking forward to it

She added: "It will be something different seeing her on the TV and she will have plenty to tell her school friends when she goes back in August."

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