MEET THE CAST

  • Gaynor recently starred as Sian In The Inheritance and is best known for the feisty Megan Macey in Emmerdale. Gaynor has also starred in Fat friends, Playing the Field, The Chase, Between the Sheets, Stan The Man and much loved Judy Mallet in Coronation Street. She has also appeared in Coogan's Run, Men of The World, Danni’s House, The Life and Times of Henry Pratt, The Wanderer, Downwardly Mobile and Casualty.

    On stage, Gaynor’s last role was Kelly Bryce in the Peter James adaptation of Looking Good Dead. Before that, she played the iconic Rose in Kay Mellor’s Band of Gold. Gaynor made her West end debut in the original cast of Calendar Girls. She played Cathy in Hull Truck’s production of Wuthering Heights and Pippa in the original production of John Godber's The Office Party. She also narrated and toured with Corrie the play.

    Gaynor’s other passion is writing, she has written episodes of Playing the Field, Fat Friends, The Chase and In the Club as well as script edited numerous Rollem productions including The Syndicate. She also has a penchant for ice skates, and sequins and is the original Queen of Dancing on Ice.

  • Samantha is best known for her long-running role as Bernice Blackstock in ITV’s Emmerdale, for which she won a TV Quick Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a National Television Award for Most Popular Actress.

    Other TV includes: series regular Valerie in Hollyoaks (Channel 4); three series of Where The Heart Is as Nurse Sally Boothe (United/LWT); Laura in Mad Dogs (Sky One), Sauzier in The Case (BBC); and Kate Spencer in Crime Stories (Freemantle).

    Theatre includes: A Taste of Honey and Dead Funny (Oldham Coliseum Theatre and tour); Seasons Greetings (Liverpool Playhouse); Party Piece (Windsor Theatre Royal and tour); Double D (Edinburgh Assembly Rooms and Kings Head London); A Midsummer Night's Dream and Come Blow Your Horn (Hazlitt Theatre, Kent); and The Ceremony with Sue Johnston written by Cath Tyldesley (Leeds City Varieties).

    Film includes: MARY in Midnight Man opposite Rob Lowe (Vision View Productions).

    Her first book, the bestseller Rosemary and the Witches of Pendle Hill, was published in 2020 followed by the sequel Rosemary and the Book of the Dead in 2021.

  • Brooke Vincent is best known for her portrayal of Sophie Webster in the ITV soap-opera Coronation Street from 2004 to 2019. Brooke made her stage debut as QUEENIE in Amanda Whittington’s Be My Baby at The Lowry in Manchester.

    She is thrilled to be treading the boards once more as Amy in Kay Mellor’s The Syndicate.

  • Oliver Anthony is best known to fans of BBC1’s The Syndicate as Theo, having joined the show in Season 4.

    Other Film/TV credits include: Doctors (BBC); My Left Nut (BBC); and Fat Friends (ITV).

    The Syndicate (UK Tour) marks Oliver’s stage debut.

  • Rosa Coduri-Fulford can currently be seen in the Paramount+ television prequel adaptation of Sexy Beast and will next be seen in ITVX’s Playing Nice, based on the book by J.P. Delaney.

    Coduri-Fulford has an extensive television CV, most recently starring in ITV’s The Tower and Sky’s Funny Woman opposite Gemma Arterton. She also starred in Sky One’s critically acclaimed Lucky Man as well landing a recurring role in the second season of HBO’s Pennyworth.

    Other Film/TV includes: Cradle to Grave (BBC); Silent Witness (BBC); and The Dumping Ground (CBBC); and ‘Meredith’ in the Billie Piper feature Rare Beasts.

    Theatre includes: Cinderella (The Vaults); On The Night (Arcola Theatre); Special Occasions (St James); Their Finest Hour (Leicester Square Theatre); The Very Thought of You (The Phoenix Artists Bar).

  • Jade trained at Queen Mary University, London and MSA. The Syndicate marks Jade’s debut in a UK Tour and she’s thrilled to be joining such a wonderful company.

    Theatre includes: Vignettes (Tinder Box, Hopemill Theatre); Vagina Cake (Hope mill Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Hopemill Theatre & Shakespeare North Playhouse); and JB shorts (The Looks Department).

    Film/TV Includes: Coronation Street (ITV); Doctors (BBC Studios); and Bulletproof (Sky One).

  • William trained at Rose Bruford and has been working extensively since 1980.

    His many regional theatre credits include Bolton Octagon, Manchester Royal Exchange, Newcastle Playhouse, Birmingham Rep, Theatre Clwyd, Watford Palace, Harrogate Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, Derby Playhouse, Leicester Haymarket, York Theatre Royal, New Vic Stoke and The West Yorkshire Playhouse. His extensive theatre career has also included The West End, The National Theatre, The Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and many UK National Tours.

    William spent nearly twenty years as a leading actor with John Godbers' Hull Truck Theatre Company and he is an Associate Artist of the John Godber Company (has performed in Bouncers over 750 times – more than any other actor!). He recently developed his first solo show, Alexa, Cry Me a Dance.

    Theatre includes: The Mousetrap (West End UK Tour); The Full Monty (UK Tour); War Horse (National Theatre - UK & World Tour); Rise and Fall of Little Voice (UK Tour); and The Sound of Music (Chichester Festival Theatre)

    William’s TV career is approaching 100 television shows.

    TV includes: Harry's Game (ITV); Doctor Who (BBC); Howards Way (BBC); All Creatures Great And Small (Channel 5); The Bill (Thames Television); Last Of The Summer Wine (BBC); Heartbeat (ITV); Emmerdale (ITV); Pigeon Summer (BBC); The Ward (ITV); Coronation Street (ITV); Wing And A Prayer (Thames Television); Gold (BBC); Hetty Wainthrop Investigates (BBC); Casualty (BBC); Judge John Deed (BBC); Dalziel & Pascoe (BBC); Holby City (BBC); The Last Detective (ITV); Eastenders (BBC); Battlefield Britain (BBC); Doctors (BBC); Family Affairs (Channel 5); Breaking The Chains (BBC); Vincent (ITV); Class Of 76 (ITV); Thin Ice (Yellow Bird Productions); Midsomer Murders (Bentley Productions); The Royal (ITV); Casualty 1909 (Stone City Films); Hollyoaks (Channel 4); DCI Banks (ITV); and Endeavour (ITV).

    Film includes: Defrosting the Fridge (BBC); Small Zones (BBC); The Fix (BBC); Shipwrecked (Walt Disney Pictures); The Whipping Boy (Disney Channel); Night of the Fox (GMT Productions); Paper Marriage (Orange Sky); Between Two Women (North Country Pictures); The Jealous God (North Country Pictures); Thunder Road (BBC); Is Anybody There? (Heyday Films); The Boat That Rocked (Working Title Films); and The Day of the Triffids (BBC).

  • Jerome Ngonadi is an Actor, budding writer, and winner of the Lilian Bayliss Award, graduating from ALRA after completing the CERT HE at East15.

    He can be seen all over the UK and the internet for various well known commercial brands.

    Theatre includes: The Boy (The Soho Theatre); The Lesson (The Southwark Playhouse); Macca & Beth (The Royal Court Liverpool); Our Laygate (The Customs House); The Three Sisters (National Theatre); The Lesson (The King’s Head Theatre); When Swallows Cry (RADA Festival); Divine Chaos of Starry Things (The White Bear); Montague (The Tabard); Unsigned (The Tristan Bates Theatre), and more.

    TV includes: Hullraisers (Channel 4); Pennyworth (STARZ); Man in the Mirror (Channel 5); Reality’s Killer Cops (CBS).

    Jerome will also be appearing in Jeymes Samuel’s upcoming blockbuster - The Book of Clarence.

  • Benedict has a wide-ranging career focusing on television and theatre. He was most recently seen in Boat Story for BBC/Amazon Freevee.

    Other TV includes: Hollyoaks (Channel 4); Emmerdale (ITV).

    Theatre credits include: 37 Plays (RSC/New Victoria Theatre) Night On The Tiles (Greenhouse Theatre Project); Tale Trail To The Prince And The Pauper (New Vic Theatre); The Trial (People Zoo); Battle of Burslem (New Vic Borderlines) Anna of the Five Towns (New Vic Theatre); Devotion (Potboiler Theatre); Another Yalta (Bolton Octagon); Pygmalion (Oldham Coliseum); Owen Wingrave (Aldeburgh Music/Edinburgh International Festival); Scar Tissue (Frantic Assembly).

    Benedict is a graduate of ALRA North, MA Acting.

  • Connor-James Ryan trained at Manchester School of Acting.

    Film/TV includes: Meet The Richardsons (TV Series); Wolfe (TV Series); Doctors (TV Series); Casualty (TV Series); The Sparticle Mystery (TV Series); Shameless (TV Series).

    Theatre includes: RED (Street Theatre)

CREATIVES

  • Gaynor Faye is an established actress and writer with credits including The Syndicate, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Fat Friends. She has been involved with Rollem since its conception, writing episodes of Fat Friends, Playing The Field, The Chase and In the Club as well as working as Script Editor and Script Consultant on shows such as The Syndicate and Girlfriends.

    Gaynor is the Creative Director of Rollem, leading the creative direction of the company’s development slate, mentoring new writers and working on projects of both her own and those started by Kay.

    Gaynor starred in Kay Mellor’s 2019/20 UK stage tour of Band Of Gold where she was also Resident Director. She has been involved in The Syndicate Play from it’s conception, working alongside Kay in directing the first workshop. The 2024 UK tour of The Syndicate marks Gaynor’s debut solo directing role.

  • Born and bred in Leeds, Kay Mellor was a unique talent in the industry, creating some of the most talked about TV and stage shows in the country. A director, actress and executive producer as well as a writer, Kay was perhaps best known for creating groundbreaking drama series such as Band of Gold and The Syndicate.

    Kay was always passionate about mentoring emerging talent – she worked closely with new writers to develop their ideas for television and stage through schemes with the BBC and Leeds Playhouse. Rollem came from her desire to tell real stories, to work with local people and to shine a spotlight on creativity. Rollem continues along the trail she blazed to honour her incredible legacy and ensure the next generation of writing talent get their voices heard.

    Kay was awarded the BAFTA Dennis Potter Award in 1997 for Outstanding Writing for Television. She was appointed an OBE in the 2009 Birthday Honours, and in 2014 she was awarded the Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing. She received a Fellowship for significant contribution to television from the Royal Television Society in November 2016.

    Her long and hugely successful career began in 1983. After graduating from Bretton Hall College and forming the Yorkshire Theatre

    Company, she wrote and performed an original play called Paul and picked up Best New Play at the National Student Drama Festival. This landed her a job at Granada Television, leading to work on soap opera juggernaut Coronation Street.

    Since then, the list of entertainment she had a hand in practically speaks for itself. From kids television and family shows (Dramarama, Children’s Ward, Just Us), to soap operas (Brookside, Families), to feature films (Girls Night, Fanny and Elvis), television drama (Band of Gold, Playing the Field, Fat Friends, Between the Sheets, Strictly Confidential, The Chase, A Passionate Woman, The Syndicate, In The Club), not to mention stage adaptations Fat Friends The Musical and Band of Gold.

    As an actress, she appeared in her own adaptation of Jane Eyre, comedy drama Stan the Man, A Good Thief and Gifted. On stage, she wrote and starred in the one - woman show Queen at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. In February 2020, Kay was awarded the Broadcast Special Recognition Award as her latest commission for BBC1 – a fourth series of the hit lottery winner drama The Syndicate – was announced, going on to be filmed in Yorkshire and Monaco during lockdown and airing on BBC1 in 2021.

    Kay Mellor passed away in May 2022.

More ANNOUNCEMENTS coming soon…