Right, of course, yes. Can’t miss that
one out!
There are obviously a lot of people
who’s been on there for a very, very
long time so it sounds like a good
place to work. I just wondered, if
you’ve struck up any particularly
strong friendships with the cast there
or whether there were there any
dragons…
I think during my time on EastEnders, it
was a little bit of a difficult time for me.
My son was young and I did very long
hours there. I had huge storylines in a
short period of time but it was wonderful
and I really, really loved the character
and I loved the reaction the storyline got.
Actually it was the first time the show had
won a BAFTA. The whole storyline I was
involved with – the love triangle with my
on screen daughter Tiffany’s (played by
Martine McCutcheon) husband, Grant
Mitchell, (who was played by Ross
Kemp) – we did a two-part special on our
storyline and we won a BAFTA. That was
directed by Tom Hooper, who directed the
King’s Speech.
It was wonderful and I loved the work
and I loved the character, Louise. I had
to leave the house really early to get on
set by seven in the morning and then
I tended to be working until really late
and then coming straight back to my
son. So, it was quite a difficult time and
then you’re learning tons and tons. So
it was very hard work - you didn’t have
any ‘off time’ with people because you
were working most of the time and when
I wasn’t I would come back home to
be with Alfie. So, I think that probably
the best relationship that I struck up… I
mean, who I really liked… was with Nadia
Sawalha, who was there at the time…
but I also grew close to Patsy Palmer
(Bianca). We’re both from the East End
– of course a lot of people in Eastenders
aren’t from the East End. Our boys were
similar ages, her Charlie and my Alfie and
so we got quite close at that time then
and she had a caravan down in Kent,
so we went down to the caravan and we
ended up buying one down there as well,
near hers. Patsy’s a lovely person and
Alfie and Charlie are still friends, which is
really nice.
There are people that I loved and that I
still see. June Brown (Dot Cotton) is a
big, big mate of mine and I adore her. I
see her at lots of functions and different
events and we’re close. There are people
I know very well who are still on it, like Mo
(Laila Morse who’s Gary Oldman’s sister).
I know her from years ago, and working
on Nil by Mouth that she did. Also Derek
Martin was a good friend of mine. He
used to be in it. And obviously, Danny’s
in it now and as I said earlier, he’s a big
friend of mine. Although I had enormous
storylines I started off quite sassy and
sexy in Eastenders and then they pile
on more and more things on you so you
get more and more downtrodden and
your life gets more and more tragic and
more and more difficult and … and you’re
spending more time being that character
than you are yourself. I think in the end
I felt like I needed counselling for my
character because they kind of make you
more and more and more miserable and I
wanted to get back to being sassy Louise
again but she was a great character and
people loved what I did which I really
do appreciate and lots of people say,
“you’ve got to get back in there because
they need a sassy strong woman like
My first professional
show was in Belfast
when I was 17 or 18,
I was just starting o