GUESS WHO’S AN OSCAR WINNER?

Did you know that Rachel Shenton (above, second from right), who plays Helen, has won an Oscar? Her father went deaf after chemotherapy, and following his death she learned British sign language. She then wrote The Silent Child (above right) about a young deaf girl who’s isolated until she learns to sign. ‘I thought maybe primary schools would like it as an educational tool, then I started chucking it in to film festivals to see what happened,’ she says modestly. It then won a qualifying festival which meant it could be entered for the Oscars. ‘That was crazy. I was invited to the nominees’ luncheon and remember being in this room with Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg, it was so surreal,’ says Rachel, whose first big part was in Hollyoaks. ‘And then we won the bloody thing!’

She made headlines for giving the acceptance speech in sign language after a promise to its young star Maisie Sly. So has winning an Oscar changed her life? ‘It changes everything and nothing,’ she says, looking around her and smiling. ‘It helps in terms of financing, but it’s not a golden ticket.’