DERBY actress Lauren Socha will be fulfilling a career ambition when she lines up in the next series of Celebrity Big Brother when it hits television screens.
The Misfits actress is understood to have signed up for the Channel 5 programme, ending two months of speculation that she would appear on it.
In the past, she has tweeted that she would "love to go on Big Brother". Now she will get her chance.
The 23-year-old, of Littleover, is best known for her role as Kelly Bailey in E4's Misfits.
It was for this role that she won the Bafta for Best Supporting Actress in May 2011.
The actress hit the headlines for the wrong reasons when she was convicted of racially abusing a taxi driver in 2012, for which she received a four-month sentence, suspended for 12 months,
A source told the Sun on Sunday: "Lauren is hoping she can show a different, more gentle-natured side to her."
The show is set to start on August 18.
It would not be the first time Big Brother has featured a Derbyshire person. In 2012, model Danica Thrall, originally from Heanor, took part in a celebrity version of the show.
However, Benefits Street's White Dee – whose real name is Deirdre Kelly – apparently turned down an offer to take part this year as she is going to be filming her own cookery show.
And ex-I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here contestant and Coronation Street actress Helen Flanagan, who had been tipped for the show, is apparently trying for a baby with her fiancé.
Socha was a member of Chellaston Youth Players, one of the most respected and acclaimed youth musical theatre groups.
As well as her, the group produced many talented actors including Georgia Groome and Lauren's brother, Michael.
In her court case, Socha described her offence as "inexcusable". She issued an apology to a driver of Asian origin after subjecting him to a torrent of abuse following a nine-hour drinking binge.
She admitted she had let down "my family, my friends and myself". She said she was "ashamed and embarrassed about how I acted in his taxi on that night".
And she described the six months between the offence and the court case as "an absolute nightmare".
She said that following the incident she had not been working and that she wanted to "accept the punishment of the court" and try to get her career back on track.
As well as the suspended prison sentence, she was handed a 12-month supervision order and ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work. She was also ordered to pay £450 compensation to the driver.
