-
EastEnders were forced to cancel outdoor filming after a knife-wielding gang turned on the cast and crew.
Actress Patsy Palmer, 40, who plays Bianca Butcher, and 16-year-old James Ford – screen son Liam – were shooting scenes in a park when the boys were heard yelling: “We’ll cut you.”
The teenagers, some in hoodies and one with his face partly covered, hurled snowballs at onlookers before turning on the crew of the BBC1 soap.
The gang – at least seven-strong – heckled the cast and bragged about carrying knives. Security staff moved in but backed off as tension worsened. A lit firework was allegedly thrown at the vacated set.
Crew planned two days filming at Graham Park in Colin*dale, north London, but cut the stint short after the hostile encounter on Monday.
A source said: “A lot of locals came to see the shoot and most were really excited. But by mid-afternoon a pack of teenagers, a few in hoodies, began causing trouble. At first they were just messing around and throwing snowballs at people watching.
“Then it turned nasty. They began to heckle the security staff and crew trying to film. They were shouting expletives and saying they wanted to have a fight. They also said they had knives and would cut up the crew.”
Security got the situation under control – then the atmosphere again turned more aggressive. The source added: “It was clearly a group of bored lads who wanted to cause trouble.
“The cast and crew weren’t bothered at first and kept filming – but then packed up. Late in the day the boys lit a firework and aimed it at the set.”
EastEnders said: “We always get a lot of attention on location. All situations are monitored, as safety of cast and crew is our priority.”
It came days after former EastEnders star Michelle Collins, 51 – now in Coro*nation Street – told of her terror as drunken teenagers screamed abuse at her on a London Tube train.
The People
-
EastEnders star Shona McGarty has denied claims that she is close to quitting the soap.
A newspaper report today (January 27) suggested that the 21-year-old is ready to bow out as Whitney Dean as she hopes to pursue a music career.
McGarty, who has played Whitney since 2008, was said to have already spoken to show bosses about the possibility of leaving.
However, the actress dismissed the report by telling Digital Spy today: "I'm very happy at EastEnders and have no current plans to leave."
McGarty has often spoken about her passion for music in interviews. She was also praised for her live rendition of 'A Change Is Gonna Come' on Children in Need last year.
However, viewers will see a new EastEnders storyline begin for Whitney in a few days' time as her boyfriend Tyler Moon (Tony Discipline) proposes to her, keen to show his commitment to their future as a couple.
EastEnders continues on Monday (January 28) at 8pm on BBC One.
-
Kara Tointon has revealed that she almost quit acting after leaving EastEnders.
The actress, who played Walford's Dawn Swann from 2005 to 2009, admitted she struggled to find work initially after leaving the soap.
The Yorkshire Evening Post quotes Tointon as saying: "I have had a fantastic couple of years and yet there was a point after EastEnders that I strongly considered giving up on acting and resorting to my plan B, training to be an interior designer.
"At that point, I started to think it wasn't going to happen for me.
"After you've been in a soap, people can assume you can't do anything else, because you're associated with your TV character.
"It can be demoralising, going to audition after audition and getting rejected, and you have to be pretty strong to carry on in this business."
Tointon's post-EastEnders projects have included a role in The Sweeney and the lead role in a West End production of Pygmalion.
She also fronted Kara Tointon: Don't Call Me Stupid, a programme about dyslexia, and took part in Strictly Come Dancing, where she met partner Artem Chigvintsev.
-
Is she still Artem Chigvintsev's partner off SCD ???
-
Lord Alan Sugar has criticised BBC soap EastEnders, accusing the show of product placement.
The Amstrad businessman and star of the BBC's Apprentice spoke of his annoyance of a long shot of a Nokia phone on Tuesday's episode.
http://i2.cdnds.net/13/07/300x225/so...ers-4594-3.jpg
© BBC
Phil Mitchell with phone
The phone was seen in a close-up shot for ten seconds while Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) lay unconscious in the car garage.
The soap had several other mobile phones in the show - including Apple's iPhone - but the brandings were not as visible as the Nokia.
EastEnders actress Danielle Harold - who plays Lola Pearce in the soap - laughed back to Sugar's comments: "Hahaha!!"
One follower wrote: "Not that you would ever use product placement? Amstrad phones in Apprentice?"
Sugar replied: "Correct, ******."
A BBC spokesman denied Sugar's comments, telling The Sun: "EastEnders never gives any one brand undue prominence, in line with BBC guidelines.
"If a product is featured there will always be a range of different brands also featured - as was the case in Tuesday's episode, when Phil, Max and Sharon's mobiles were all seen on screen."
Lord Sugar recently confirmed that Young Apprentice has not been renewed for a new series by the BBC.
-
EastEnders legend June Brown has revealed that she wanted to be a doctor in her younger years.
The actress, best known for playing Walford favourite Dot Branning, gave up on her dream as she was daunted by the training involved.
Brown, 86, told The Sun: "In my early days I might have liked to have done something with medicine. I think I would have quite liked to have been a doctor. But I decided not to stick with it because of the long training."
She continued: "I wouldn't have had the confidence to trust myself as a doctor. As soon as somebody questions me, I wonder if I'm wrong. I don't have an enormous amount of confidence.
"We weren't instilled with confidence as children, and we were told you should be seen and not heard."
Brown is now back on screen in EastEnders after a six-month break, but will also be appearing in an episode of BBC Two sitcom Heading Out later this month, playing a character named Sozzie.
She said: "I always like to play characters that are different to Dot. Sozzie is the complete opposite in every way.
"She speaks very loudly because her hearing isn't particularly good and she's a little fond of the drink. Not only that, but she's also, unfortunately, going slightly demented! It gave me freedom to be larger than life."
-
Actress Shona McGarty is reportedly planning to enter the recording studio.
The soap star - who plays Whitney Dean - has been given studio time by Florence + the Machine manager Mairead Nash, according to The Sun.
"I'm always writing and singing my own songs, so I am going into the studio to record some of them," McGarty is quoted as saying.
McGarty worked in amateur musical theatre before joining the soap in 2008, and performed Sam Cooke's 'A Change Is Gonna Come' on BBC's Children in Need fundraiser last November.
Sources close to the actress have claimed that she would consider quitting EastEnders if she was given a recording contract.
"You know she's in the room because unless she is talking to you, she's singing away to herself," one insider said. "People liked her performance on Children in Need, so who knows?"
However, McGarty added: "It isn't anything official, [the songs] are just for my own personal use. I have no plans to leave EastEnders."
Martine McCutcheon, Anita Dobson, Sean Maguire and Sid Owen are among other EastEnders stars who attempted a singing career following or during their time on the soap.
-
I often wondered if they had any success ????? Sid Owen ????????? I had no idea he was into SINGING,, I do not know any of the others so,,, can any one enlighten me ???? THANKS :-D
-
Danniella Westbrook kidnapped by gunmen and raped as punishment after failing to pay drug debt
The actress was held for three days in a grimy flat where she was subjected to a series of hellish sex assaults by three thugs
EastEnders star Danniella Westbrook was kidnapped at gunpoint and raped by a gang of drug dealers after failing to pay a £5,000 cocaine debt, the Sunday People has revealed .
The actress was held for three days in a grimy flat where she was subjected to a series of hellish sex assaults by three thugs.
Their evil behaviour was a punishment for not being able to pay for the Class A drug that had almost killed her.
Danniella, who had just quit the BBC1 soap in which she played Sam Mitchell, was addicted to cocaine at the time of the horrific ordeal.
A source close to the star said last night: “It was nothing short of hell on earth for Danniella. It was the lowest point of her life. She was distraught but had no way of paying the money.
“Looking back, she can’t believe she let something like that happen.”
Danniella, 39, has waived her right to lifetime anonymity as a victim of a sexual attack so she can reveal the shocking truth about the scariest time of her life.
The actress, now a born-again Christian, was terrified when the gang arrived on the doorstep of her luxury riverside apartment near London’s landmark Tower Bridge in 1994.
The three drug dealers, furious that she hadn’t paid them, held a gun to her head and marched her into a waiting car which sped to Stockwell, south London.
There she spent three days being abused as a sex slave to the evil gang.
They told her they were punishing her and teaching her a lesson for not honouring her debt.
When they eventually let the traumatised star go free, she had to walk miles home.
Despite dating former East 17 singer Brian Harvey at the time, Danniella kept the horrendous assault a secret.
She only revealed the ordeal to close family last month after she sat down to write her forthcoming book.
Danniella will reveal the shocking details of the attack in her autobiography Faith, Hope and Clarity which will be published next month.
The source said: “Danniella had never been so frightened. She couldn’t believe what was happening.
“It is the worst incident that happened throughout the period when she was hooked on drugs. When she looks back and thinks about what happened, it fills her with horror.
“She was petrified as she was taken away. She didn’t know where she would end up.
“She owed £5,000 and had no way of paying the money back. She had quit EastEnders the year before and was just getting by earning a far smaller wage doing other acting work.”
At the time Danniella was appearing with Timothy Spall in ITV’s Frank Stubbs Promotes, a comedy about a ticket tout.
The source said: “With her drug addiction having spiralled out of control, her debts were mounting up.
“The gang wanted what they were owed. While she was relieved when they finally freed her she was still frightened.
“She had to walk back home having been abused for days without any money or phone to contact anyone. She had never felt that sort of humiliation before, she was numb and felt disgusting.
“She couldn’t believe what had happened but at the time she was so hooked on drugs that she just accepted it and moved on.
“She was not at all proud of how her life was at the time. She often felt suicidal and attempted to kill herself. She was in a bad, bad place.”
Danniella, now married to businessman Kevin Jenkins, 45, felt she couldn’t tell anyone about the attack.
She didn’t tell police as she feared she would be in trouble herself for using the illegal drug.
The source added: “When Danniella sat down to write her second book last year, she didn’t have any intention of revealing the ordeal but then decided the truth had to come out.
“She has always been very honest about her past as a drug addict and wanted to tell of the depths of her despair.
“She is not at all proud of the cocaine chapter in her life but she’s proud of getting through it and is happier than ever now she has come out the other side.
“Kevin and Danniella’s mum Sue were both incredibly shocked about what happened and couldn’t believe she’d never told them about the kidnap or the rape. She only told them a month ago.
“She felt shamed for a long time. But now she’s getting everything out in the open once and for all.
“She’s proof you can reach the lowest depths and come back and turn your life around.”
Danniella’s heartbreaking revelation will be just one shocking story in the book the star is self-publishing next month.
It is her second autobiography. Her first, The Other Side of Nowhere, was published in 2006 and went to No1 in the bestsellers list.
In her new book she will also lift the lid on her struggles with bipolar disorder and how her family nearly fell apart when Kevin lost his fortune as his business went under.
Danniella will also recount the crazy millionaire lifestyle they lived and how she’s found Jesus and got her life back on track.
The source added: “You thought Danniella had revealed everything but this latest book is the star laid bare.
“No subject is out of bounds and she’s laid every card there is on the table. It will shock people but it will also inspire those struggling with drugs to turn their lives around.”
Danniella’s drugs battle ended 12 years ago when she became clean for the first time since she was 14.
She was a teenager when she first snorted cocaine in a club in London’s West End.
After landing the EastEnders role of Sam Mitchell in 1990 alongside Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden as brothers Grant and Phil, she became hooked.
She would spend £400 a day on the drug, and now estimates she blew a total of £250,000 on her addiction.
Her weight dropped to just six stone and she attempted suicide several times.
She needed her nose rebuilt after the drug eroded her septum, leaving one gaping hole instead of nostrils.
In 2002 she underwent a four-hour operation to rebuild it.
She also revealed she snorted cocaine throughout her pregnancy with son Kai, now 15.
Danniella, who starred on I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here in 2003 and Dancing On Ice in 2010, said: “I had so many rock bottoms.
“I tried to overdose a few times with paracetamol and Night Nurse. It was a feeble cry for help.”
Danniella’s cocaine days ended in 2001 when husband Kevin put her into rehab at the Promises clinic in Arizona after she stole from him to fund her addiction.
At the time she was three months pregnant with daughter Jody B, now 11.
She said: “He just put me on a plane to Arizona. I was so drugged up I didn’t know what was happening.”
Danniella now lives in an Essex village with her family after returning to the UK from California.
The family moved to the States in 2009 after selling their Kent mansion following the credit crunch.
In America she found God and will now never go back to drugs.
She and Kevin were introduced to the Sanctuary Church in Westminster, California.
Danniella said: “I have given my life to the Lord. The first time I came to this church I felt something so spiritual and amazing I wanted to cry.
“After a few visits I found myself walking up to the altar to ask the Lord for forgiveness for my sins. It was an incredible experience.”
Danniella is one of the most recognisable faces from EastEnders after starring on the soap on and off between 1990 and 2010.
She quit in 1993 to pursue other projects but was asked back two years later. In 1996 she was axed for her off-screen antics and poor time-keeping but was asked back in 1999 and sacked again a year later.
She returned for the third time in 2009 for two stints and finally left for good in 2010.
Last night Danniella declined to comment on her new autobiography and what it reveals.
Sunday People
-
Jessie Wallace has denied claims that she is engaged.
Rumours began circulating that the actress, who plays Kat Moon in the BBC One soap, was to marry Tim Arnold after she was recently spotted with a ring on her finger.
Sources suggested as early as last July that she was ready to marry the musician as she had "fallen so in love".
However, a spokesperson for Wallace told The Mirror that she isn't yet engaged.
She has been dating Arnold for 11 months after meeting him through his godmother June Brown, who plays Dot Cotton in EastEnders.
Wallace was previously engaged to Vince Morse, but cancelled the wedding just hours before it was due to begin after discovering that he had sent explicit messages to an ex.
