VIEWERS of BBC One show I d Do Anything still have another eight weeks to go until they find out who will be chosen for the part of Nancy. But the Wood&Vale can exclusively reveal that a 42-year-old music teacher has already been awarded

Sanchez Manning

VIEWERS of BBC One show I'd Do Anything still have another eight weeks to go until they find out who will be chosen for the part of Nancy.

But the Wood&Vale can exclusively reveal that a 42-year-old music teacher has already been awarded the role of Nancy's understudy.

Tanya Nyari, who lives in Marylebone, has signed a one-year contract to be one of the three understudies for Nancy in Cameron Mackintosh's forthcoming production of Oliver!

She was spotted by producers of the programme, hosted by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Graham Norton, when she took her son along to an audition for the TV show in January.

He failed to win a place to be one of the 12 wannabe Olivers.

But in an odd twist of fate, his mother was asked to come back to try out for Nancy after standing in to sing with the boys at the audition.

The next week she returned to sing another number from the stage production and impressed producers so much they invited her to appear in the TV show.

Amazingly, she turned them down after deciding that it would not be feasible for her to leave her family for 13 weeks and move into a house with the other contestants.

"I admit that I was torn but it just wasn't possible," she said. "I've got a four-year-old, a 12-year-old, an elderly mother and a dog. So it was a matter of thanks but no."

This left the producers bewildered. But the theatrical casting agents present were still interested enough to offer her one of the understudy parts.

It was then agreed that she would be on standby to cover the role of Nancy two days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays once the theatre run of Oliver! begins.

Last week she was called in to meet Andrew Lloyd Webber who she said told her that she had a "natural propensity for the part" but also quipped that "in this business it is 95 per cent good luck and 5 per cent good fortune."

While elated by her unexpected success, Tanya said she had dreaded telling 12-year-old son Danny.

"I didn't tell my son straight away because I thought he would be heartbroken after being turned down for the role of Oliver," she said. "But in the end it was fine because when I did tell him he was really pleased for me."

sanchez.manning@hamhigh.co.uk