Eastenders General News Thread

[Perdita]

EastEnders star Nina Wadia has revealed that she receives "kinky" letters from fans.

The actress confirmed that her bossy soap character Zainab Masood has attracted worldwide attention since she made her debut in 2007.

Speaking to The People, Wadia explained: "I get a number of letters from Germany and America. A lot of them are from people who want me to dress in a certain way - you can imagine the kind of thing we're talking about here - and visit them with a view to playing the dominatrix.

"Most of the letters are harmless enough - if more than a little bit kinky! I've only received one which gave me cause for concern and I took that to the EastEnders office to deal with."

She added: "There's a guy called Steve The Pipe Cleaner who is keen for me to visit him in his home and clean his very large pipe at some point. I've politely declined and also said no to visiting these people who want me to dominate them.

"I suspect some are just having a laugh and at least it shows they are tuning in to EastEnders."

Wadia went home with two prizes at the British Soap Awards in London last night. She triumphed in the best comedy performance category, while her character's relationship with Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra) was also named best on-screen partnership.

[megan999]

June's tearing off her Cotton SOURCE: THE SUN ONLINE 11/5/09

EASTENDERS legend June Brown is planning her most revealing role yet — stripping NAKED, The Sun can reveal.

The soap veteran, 82, let slip she is considering dumping Dot Cotton’s trademark launderette overalls and stepping out in her birthday suit.

But June will not be shocking viewers of the BBC1 soap.

The nude caper is part of a top-secret project planned for later this year.

Speaking at the British Soap Awards on Saturday night she teased: “I can’t tell you because I might not be doing something.

“But if I do, I will be taking my clothes off.

“I don’t know if it’s a pretty sight.”

Last night pals of the popular star, whose character is now Mrs Branning, suggested the strip could be for a charity project similar to the Women’s Institute “calendar girls”.

The group of middle-aged women peeled off to raise cash for Leukaemia Research.

One friend said: “June may be getting on but she’s still an adventurous girl at heart.

“When you get to her age you are pretty comfortable in your body — no matter how many wrinkles it’s got.”

Others hinted it could be a ploy to win an AWARD.

One said: “Bafta snubbed her for best actress this year when she delivered the performance of her life, so you can’t blame her if she’s refocusing on another category next year.

“Don’t be surprised if she’s named sexiest actress at next year’s British Soap Awards.”

---->OMG she's brave! I wouldn't bare all for any amount of money

[Perdita]

EastEnders actor Perry Fenwick has revealed his shock at learning his character Billy Mitchell's real age.

The 47-year-old, who has played the unlucky-in-life character for just over ten years, told DS at the British Soap Awards: "Billy's name's changed now. It was Billy Mitchell, but it's now Poor Old Billy Mitchell."

He joked: "I wasn't very happy with that, to be honest! I was labouring under the misapprehension that he was about 39! I got the scripts a couple of months ago, opened it up and went 'What?!'

"I was pleased to see on Digital Spy and lots of different forums that they said 'no way does he look 50!'"

I don't think he looks 50

[Perdita]

EastEnders actor Larry Lamb has returned to filming at the Walford soap.

The 65-year-old - who plays ostracised Mitchell clan member Archie - began shooting last week for his comeback episodes, which are due to air this summer.

He told DS on the red carpet at this year's British Soap Awards: "Archie's back in town now. He's starting to finagle his way back in. It's not easy. We just started this week, I started Tuesday morning. It's not easy for [Archie]."

He then teased: "He's got one ally within the family..."

[Perdita]

Ex-EastEnders actor Rob Kazinsky has revealed that he would make a return to the BBC soap if his former co-star Rita Simons ever left the programme.

The 25-year-old, who played Sean Slater between 2006 and 2009, told DS at this year's British Soap Awards that if his on-screen wife Simons (Roxy Slater) ever quit the show, he would want to be part of her exit plot.

He said: "I've always said that whatever happens if Rita ever leaves, I want to be in her exit storyline... I'd love to do that."

Reflecting on the state of the programme at the moment, he said: "When I left, I didn't watch it for a little while - I took a long break - and I tuned in and I saw Josie Lawrence and I was like 'oh my God, that's amazing!'

"And then I came to this party today... and there's all these new people and they're all better looking then I ever was!"

He joked: "They're amazing looking people they've suddenly got in this show and I'm just like 'why didn't I stay?!' [Diederick Santer] has upped his game! I wish I'd stayed now... Preeya [Kalidas] - she's cute!"

[Perdita]

A man charged with murdering two French students reportedly planned to burgle the home of EastEnders star Laila Morse.

The Old Bailey was told how Dano Sonnex, 23, had talked about robbing the south London home of Morse, who plays Little Mo in the BBC soap.

The 63-year-old actress called police at 5am after hearing disturbance outside her property, just half an hour after students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez were stabbed to death 244 times.

A neighbour went on to describe the moment she saw Sonnex attempt to rob Morse's house.

"At about 4.30am I was woken up by a noise. Something made me get out of bed and go to a window," Metro quotes Sue Ann Blomfield as saying.

"I saw a man. He wasn't in the room but had his hands on the window frame. I had the impression he was going to try and climb in.

"I said, 'What the f' are you doing?' The man was standing on the conservatory. He put a hand up to cover his face.

"He said, 'Is this Mo's house?' I said, 'No, it's my house'. I was alarmed because I was expecting a cat. He said, 'I want her signature'. I again told him to f' off."

Sonnex, of Peckham, London, has admitted a count of burglary.

[Perdita]

EastEnders star Perry Fenwick has praised the show's producers for their "bold" approach to storytelling.

The actor, who plays Billy Mitchell, claimed that the BBC One soap is more "gritty" than its rivals Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks.

Last year, the programme sparked complaints from viewers after screening a paedophilia plot involving Tony King (Chris Coghill), teenager Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) and Walford favourite Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer).

The plot was later cleared by broadcasting watchdog Ofcom, which ruled that producers had tackled the issue "appropriately and sensitively".

Reflecting on the row, Fenwick told PA: "I think we dare to go a little bit further with certain stories. We've done the Tony and Bianca story and initially there was a bit of a kickoff about that - people were saying: 'Oh, it's all miserable, why are you doing that?'

"They don't realise that we actually get asked by charities and organisations to tackle these things because it can do a lot of good, because it's a massive audience. Usually the response is, once the stories have gone out, that phone lines get jammed and hopefully we help a few people out."

He added: "We do it to entertain and we hopefully act it well. We do all the other stuff that the other soaps do but we're just a little bit grittier."

[Perdita]

A HOST of dazzlingly dressed stars from EastEnders turned out yesterday for the real-life wedding of Samantha Janus.
Among the guests were Lacey Turner with newly-blonde locks.

Others included Walford stalwarts Barbara Windsor and June Brown.

Co-star Rita Simons dressed down in a black top and Ugg boots.

Sam, who plays Ronnie Mitchell, wed long-time love Mark Womack in West London.

[megan999]

^ Lacey looks strange with blonde hair!

[angel_eyes87]

I think Lacey suits being Blonde.

Does anyone know how long until we see her new hair in Eastenders?