Alannah"s to be the Bel of the ball

A 13-year-old Dunshaughlin girl shortly begins rehearsals for this winter"s panto at the Olympia Theatre - even as she stars in a leading childrens TV series on RTE 2s 'Satitude" programme, currently running each Saturday morning. It is two years since Alannah Scully of The Crescent, Dunshaughlin, was chosen from thousands of others auditioning to take the lead role in 'Bel"s Boys" and major TV producer Endemol shot the series over four months in Belfast, where Alannah was the lone cast member from south of the border. The Community College Dunshaughlin pupil is daughter of Barbara and Martin Scully and niece of Irish Eurovision contestant Eamon Toal. She"s been a member of the Spotlight troupe in Navan for several years and already the TV series has been shown in Birtain, Italy, Brazil and elsewhere on children"s channel cable. There are many more episodes of 'Bel"s Boys" still to run and the series has proven a big audience winner throughout Europe, but Alannah"s mother Barbara says the new star"s feet are firmly on the ground, with schoolwork taking precedence before rehearsals begin for 'Aladdin".