Before she found fame playing feisty teen Lola Pearce, EastEnders star Danielle Harold struggled to “fit in” with mainstream schooling, and was considered something of a tear-away.

And as such, she appeared on Jamie Oliver’s show, Jamie’s Dream School, which introduced some of “Britain’s most inspirational individuals” to 20 young people who had left school “with little to show for the experience” to give education a second chance.

However, it seems that when she auditioned for the part of Lola, Danielle was concerned that her appearance on Dream School could set a bad impression.

She told What’s On TV, “I don’t think much of them watched (Jamie’s Dream School) which was probably a good thing…

“They asked me what I’d done before and I was like, ‘Jamie’s Dream School, did you see that?’

“But it’s been great, I’ve had a great year.”

When Danielle starred in Dream School, she conducted an interview with Now magazine about being on the show, in which she said, “I went on the show because my life seemed to be going nowhere.

“I was ill in years 10 and 11 at school and missed a lot of GCSEs and thought it would be a brilliant opportunity to learn.

”And it was. It was a fantastic experience and it’s changed my life.”

And of her role as Lola, Danielle added, “[Lola’s] such fun to play, she’s so different from me. It’s really fun just to not care about anything.

“I get recognised a lot too. You never expect to, but it happens in the weirdest places, in Sainsbury’s when I’m food shopping.

“I still can’t believe my luck now, it’s just really strange, really surreal.”