Kenyan slums 'emotional rollercoaster' for Brooke
Coronation Street star Brooke Vincent has revealed how much her trip to Kenya has made her appreciate life as her visit nears its end. The soap star, who plays teenage lesbian Sophie Webster, is among some of the cast who are visiting Kenyan slums to film ITV documentary Corrie Goes To Kenya to help raise awareness about children suffering from HIV in the country. Brooke, 20, tweeted a picture of herself playing with school children and said: "It's been an emotional rollercoaster for me... These children's smiles mean a lot!!" Earlier this month it was revealed Brooke had been reduced to tears by some of the things she had seen in the slums. She and Coronation Street co-star Ryan Thomas, who plays Jason Grimshaw, are performing a play with the children they've been working with in Mombasa before they leave. The glamorous soap star has also adapted to her surroundings during her stay. She revealed on Twitter: "Painting my toes and just got my toes all caught up in the mosquito net! Just what I need smudged toes!! "Just found I have a lodger in my room. A little lizard!" Corrie Goes To Kenya will screen in July.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.