Perdita
30-12-2009, 07:25
Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell's estranged mother Glenda - played by 54-year-old Glynis Barber - turns up out of the blue during next week's episodes of the Walford soap, after hearing that her not-so-beloved ex-husband Archie (Larry Lamb) has died. Her appearance doesn't go down too well will with her sister-in-law Peggy (Barbara Windsor), while daughters Ronnie (Samantha Womack) and Roxy (Rita Simons) are unable to comprehend the audacity of their estranged mother's arrival after she abandoned them as youngsters. Here, in her first interview in the role, DS chats to Glynis about being cast as Glenda, her character's organic development and whether Glenda still loved Archie.
Were you upset when you originally didn't get the part?
"No, no at all! I didn't even know about the part originally! I knew nothing of it. I think they originally cast Jill [Gascoine] because she's of a similar age to Barbara and on screen, they're sisters-in-law, so it made total sense. The fact that they then cast me was a sign of the complete desperation to get someone quickly! To be perfectly honest, though, I think it worked out really well."
You bear an uncanny resemblance to Samantha Womack...
"When I got there, everyone said, 'Oh my God, you look like the girls'. Roxy's a daddy's girl and Ronnie's a mummy's girl, so Sam and I just had such a connection. We just look like mother and daughter. I've worked with Sam before, doing Babes In The Wood, and we had so many scenes together while I was filming. Sam and I are quite similar in some ways, so we really 'got' each other. It was such an organic process, it just felt like it was meant to be."
What's it like playing the missing part of the Mitchell puzzle?
"She's such a meaty character. It's a fantastic part. Glenda's very important in the whole Mitchell saga and because I had to come in at such short notice, within 24 hours of meeting them, I was on set shooting 38 pages of dialogue! If someone had said to me beforehand, 'You're playing this really important character, Ronnie and Roxy's mum, you're a Mitchell, you have tons and tons of dialogue', I'd probably have been so nervous and completely freaked-out. It's a real blessing that I had no time to have a single nervous thought. There was no time for nerves and no time to over-think it."
How did your first day go?
"I rushed in, they gave me Glenda's back-story and I didn't even have time to read all the scripts before I started filming. I didn't even know all the storyline, so in the first week, I filmed the character on a need-to-know basis. Each day I filmed, I learned a little more about her, so I had to make decisions about how to play her based on the information I had each day. It was very interesting to do as I've never had to do that before."
Did the fact you had to learn as you filmed help with the part?
"Absolutely. With Glenda, you're always questioning what's a lie and what's the truth. I could only play it as the truth because I didn't know beyond the page I'd learned. Any time you play a character who's lying, you have to play it completely genuinely anyway as it has to be convincing. The funny thing was that even though I was playing it genuinely, Roxy doesn't believe a word Glenda says!"
Do you think Glenda still loved Archie?
"That's an interesting question… I'd say not, because he was an abusive bully. An abused woman can be intimidated, but at the same time think they need the man and they're scared to leave because the bully convinces them that they need each other. That's different to love. Glenda didn't love Archie but she loved her girls. However, because she didn't love Archie, she was able to leave - she had to get away. She's a very strong-minded and tough woman. Leaving an opulent lifestyle, her daughters, her family, a big house and her protective husband behind was a risk. She had no qualifications and she's had to live by her wits."
Do you think that prior to Glenda's first screen appearance, she could have been around Walford and therefore killed Archie?
"You're not the first person to say that! You just never know what they're going to spring on you! Nobody knows yet - even the perpetrator doesn't know. When we were filming, a lot of people were saying, 'Glenda could have done this'. My instinct is that it won't be Glenda, but I don't know what I'm basing that on! I think it's probably because I've bonded with the character. Dom [Treadwell-Collins] kept telling me, 'She's such a bitch' and I always sprung to her defence, saying, 'She's not a bitch! She has her reasons!'"
And you just missed Larry Lamb by a few weeks…
"I know - it would have been lovely to have filmed some scenes with him. It would certainly have been interesting for Archie and Glenda, with Glenda giving him a few home truths. She could only return after his death, though - such was the power of her fear of him that she never, ever contacted her girls again. It's amazing that at no stage - even when they were grown up - did Glenda ever contact her girls."
Bonus Scoop: More from 'Enders Glenda Mitchell
Just before Christmas, I managed to catch up with EastEnders newcomer Glynis Barber about her new role as the Mitchell sisters' mother Glenda.
Earlier this year, Glynis was cast in the role of Glenda shortly after Jill Gascoine stepped aside after only a day's filming.
No disrespect to Jill, but I certainly think it worked out for the best - Glynis is the spitting image of her screen daughter Ronnie (Samantha Womack)!
To read the first half of my interview with Glynis, then click here. Read on, though, for bonus excerpts from my time with her.
What kind of a character is she?
"When she lived with Archie, he was very controlling of her. Even though she lived in a beautiful house and had a glamorous lifestyle, life became unbearable and she had very genuine reasons for going off. She's never got back to the life she once had, and it's been very tough for her ever since. She has a real edge, but at the same time, she's very vulnerable. She's such a complex character, too. Generally, what she's saying is true but the words she's encasing them in are lies."
How does Glenda first appear?
"She just turns up out of the blue and walks into Peggy's kitchen! She's there just days before Archie's will reading - and she's broke..."
Why has she initially returned?
"Glenda tells the Mitchells that she saw in the newspaper that Archie had died and that she was shocked to see Peggy's married to him - as the last time she saw her, she was married to Archie's brother Eric! Glenda goes on to say that now Archie's dead, she's returned to see her girls."
Why does she have a bottle of pills? What's wrong with her?
"Well... She's on some kind of medication. She's had it - and still has it - quite tough. She's probably depressed..."
Why do Glenda and Peggy have such a rocky relationship?
"I think that all stems from the past because in my mind, Archie was always in love with Peggy. Glenda's always been jealous of that love and she even says to Peggy at one point, 'You were always the one he loved'. Glenda was the young blonde girl working in one of his clubs that he ended up marrying but there was Peggy who'd married his brother Eric who was 'the one'. Peggy was always the third person in the marriage."
Why does she have such a volatile relationship with Roxy?
"Roxy was younger than Ronnie when Glenda left and she was always a daddy's girl. Ronnie was the first-born and they were very close and very similar in temperament and personality. Roxy, however, was more like Archie and took his side on everything. One of the reasons Glenda gives for leaving is that Archie was beginning to influence the girls' thoughts against her and turning them against her. With Archie and the girls treating her like dirt, she just upped and left."
Were you upset when you originally didn't get the part?
"No, no at all! I didn't even know about the part originally! I knew nothing of it. I think they originally cast Jill [Gascoine] because she's of a similar age to Barbara and on screen, they're sisters-in-law, so it made total sense. The fact that they then cast me was a sign of the complete desperation to get someone quickly! To be perfectly honest, though, I think it worked out really well."
You bear an uncanny resemblance to Samantha Womack...
"When I got there, everyone said, 'Oh my God, you look like the girls'. Roxy's a daddy's girl and Ronnie's a mummy's girl, so Sam and I just had such a connection. We just look like mother and daughter. I've worked with Sam before, doing Babes In The Wood, and we had so many scenes together while I was filming. Sam and I are quite similar in some ways, so we really 'got' each other. It was such an organic process, it just felt like it was meant to be."
What's it like playing the missing part of the Mitchell puzzle?
"She's such a meaty character. It's a fantastic part. Glenda's very important in the whole Mitchell saga and because I had to come in at such short notice, within 24 hours of meeting them, I was on set shooting 38 pages of dialogue! If someone had said to me beforehand, 'You're playing this really important character, Ronnie and Roxy's mum, you're a Mitchell, you have tons and tons of dialogue', I'd probably have been so nervous and completely freaked-out. It's a real blessing that I had no time to have a single nervous thought. There was no time for nerves and no time to over-think it."
How did your first day go?
"I rushed in, they gave me Glenda's back-story and I didn't even have time to read all the scripts before I started filming. I didn't even know all the storyline, so in the first week, I filmed the character on a need-to-know basis. Each day I filmed, I learned a little more about her, so I had to make decisions about how to play her based on the information I had each day. It was very interesting to do as I've never had to do that before."
Did the fact you had to learn as you filmed help with the part?
"Absolutely. With Glenda, you're always questioning what's a lie and what's the truth. I could only play it as the truth because I didn't know beyond the page I'd learned. Any time you play a character who's lying, you have to play it completely genuinely anyway as it has to be convincing. The funny thing was that even though I was playing it genuinely, Roxy doesn't believe a word Glenda says!"
Do you think Glenda still loved Archie?
"That's an interesting question… I'd say not, because he was an abusive bully. An abused woman can be intimidated, but at the same time think they need the man and they're scared to leave because the bully convinces them that they need each other. That's different to love. Glenda didn't love Archie but she loved her girls. However, because she didn't love Archie, she was able to leave - she had to get away. She's a very strong-minded and tough woman. Leaving an opulent lifestyle, her daughters, her family, a big house and her protective husband behind was a risk. She had no qualifications and she's had to live by her wits."
Do you think that prior to Glenda's first screen appearance, she could have been around Walford and therefore killed Archie?
"You're not the first person to say that! You just never know what they're going to spring on you! Nobody knows yet - even the perpetrator doesn't know. When we were filming, a lot of people were saying, 'Glenda could have done this'. My instinct is that it won't be Glenda, but I don't know what I'm basing that on! I think it's probably because I've bonded with the character. Dom [Treadwell-Collins] kept telling me, 'She's such a bitch' and I always sprung to her defence, saying, 'She's not a bitch! She has her reasons!'"
And you just missed Larry Lamb by a few weeks…
"I know - it would have been lovely to have filmed some scenes with him. It would certainly have been interesting for Archie and Glenda, with Glenda giving him a few home truths. She could only return after his death, though - such was the power of her fear of him that she never, ever contacted her girls again. It's amazing that at no stage - even when they were grown up - did Glenda ever contact her girls."
Bonus Scoop: More from 'Enders Glenda Mitchell
Just before Christmas, I managed to catch up with EastEnders newcomer Glynis Barber about her new role as the Mitchell sisters' mother Glenda.
Earlier this year, Glynis was cast in the role of Glenda shortly after Jill Gascoine stepped aside after only a day's filming.
No disrespect to Jill, but I certainly think it worked out for the best - Glynis is the spitting image of her screen daughter Ronnie (Samantha Womack)!
To read the first half of my interview with Glynis, then click here. Read on, though, for bonus excerpts from my time with her.
What kind of a character is she?
"When she lived with Archie, he was very controlling of her. Even though she lived in a beautiful house and had a glamorous lifestyle, life became unbearable and she had very genuine reasons for going off. She's never got back to the life she once had, and it's been very tough for her ever since. She has a real edge, but at the same time, she's very vulnerable. She's such a complex character, too. Generally, what she's saying is true but the words she's encasing them in are lies."
How does Glenda first appear?
"She just turns up out of the blue and walks into Peggy's kitchen! She's there just days before Archie's will reading - and she's broke..."
Why has she initially returned?
"Glenda tells the Mitchells that she saw in the newspaper that Archie had died and that she was shocked to see Peggy's married to him - as the last time she saw her, she was married to Archie's brother Eric! Glenda goes on to say that now Archie's dead, she's returned to see her girls."
Why does she have a bottle of pills? What's wrong with her?
"Well... She's on some kind of medication. She's had it - and still has it - quite tough. She's probably depressed..."
Why do Glenda and Peggy have such a rocky relationship?
"I think that all stems from the past because in my mind, Archie was always in love with Peggy. Glenda's always been jealous of that love and she even says to Peggy at one point, 'You were always the one he loved'. Glenda was the young blonde girl working in one of his clubs that he ended up marrying but there was Peggy who'd married his brother Eric who was 'the one'. Peggy was always the third person in the marriage."
Why does she have such a volatile relationship with Roxy?
"Roxy was younger than Ronnie when Glenda left and she was always a daddy's girl. Ronnie was the first-born and they were very close and very similar in temperament and personality. Roxy, however, was more like Archie and took his side on everything. One of the reasons Glenda gives for leaving is that Archie was beginning to influence the girls' thoughts against her and turning them against her. With Archie and the girls treating her like dirt, she just upped and left."