HE’S probably Birchwood High School’s most famous former pupil – but George Sampson is not too famous to miss out on a chance to return to his old school.
It was an evening when the school welcomed back last year’s leavers to celebrate their successes and present some awards and certificates – and guest of honour was George
In 2008, while still a pupil at Birchwood, George was crowned winner of Britain’s Got Talent, after wowing the nation with his Singing in the Rain dance routine.
Shortly after winning, George was launched into the West End where he starred in hip-hop musical Into the Hoodz.
He was then scouted to star and play Eddie in feature films Streetdance 3D and StreetDance 2. He then auditioned for BBC TV drama Waterloo Road and secured four series as school bad boy Kyle Stack, before joining the cast of Sky 1 comedy Mount Pleasant.
George enjoyed short stints filming other TV shows including Casualty and The Dumping Ground before joining Emmerdale in 2016, playing Ryan, the local bad boy. After a successful period on screen, George set his sights on the stage, and at the end of 2017, toured the country starring in the Madness musical Our House for six months.
This last year has seen him return to screen to compete in Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions, before heading off on tour again in January after a stint in panto, where he will tour the UK and the Netherlands until September 2020 in a hit musical.
George’s message to Birchwood pupils was: “Follow your dream and despite anything, work hard and strive for what you want in life.”
He said: “Life’s not about waiting for the storm to pass…Ii’s about learning to dance in the rain”.
A school spokesperson said: “Great words of advice which I hope will be a real inspiration to our visitors on the night.
“A big thank you to George for taking time out of his busy schedule to revisit his roots. We hope he enjoyed it and it brought back some good memories. Thanks, must also go to our visitors for attending, it was a lovely evening and a chance to really celebrate, for one last time the class of 2019 and all their achievements.”
