Future romance for 'EastEnders' Roxy Mitchell?
Roxy's romance with Dr Al in EastEnders comes to an abrupt end during next week's episodes when he's resigns from his post over complaints about his conduct - even though Roxy wasn't registered at the practice.
They weren't really going anywhere and when Roxy discovered that she'd inherited £3 million and The Vic, Al was well and truly pushed on to the back burner.
So what does the woman behind the character think about Roxy's lacklustre love life?
Dr Al's leaving, so that removed any possibility of a romance with him - do you think Roxy will ever be lucky in love again?
"Roxy nearly settled down and once again it was ripped away from her! It's a shame, though, because the public seemed to really like Roxy and Al together. It was just bad timing that he was going. I guess Roxy can have a bit more fun now. Not that I've seen anything in the scripts, though! What's so funny is that people are so quick to say 'Roxy's the Square's bike' or 'the slapper' but her sister's going around pricking condoms and sleeping with anything with a pulse! Roxy's been like a spinster since Sean left and the first bit of action she gets is the doctor."
How about battling Janine for Ryan?
"Well I would go there if the writers wanted it, except Ronnie's been there and I think Roxy seriously has to steer clear of any men that her sister's been with. Although Ronnie's had every man on the Square - except Charlie Slater. There's a distinct lack of good-looking men around Walford. We need some new fitties in!"
Rita Simons Interview 26 April 2011
Roxy Mitchell faces a tricky task in next week's episodes of EastEnders as she tries to get Ronnie's legal case back on track. When she hears that Ronnie has sacked her solicitor because she doesn't want to be released from prison, Roxy pays her a visit and declares that she must start fighting for her freedom. After hiring a new lawyer for her sister, Roxy attempts to get Jack to join her in supporting Ronnie, but he's still fighting demons of his own. With a reluctant Ronnie and an anguished Jack on her hands, Roxy has her work cut out as she tries to take control of a terrible situation - can she prove herself? Rita Simons, who plays Roxy, recently chatted to Digital Spy about the storyline and her character's future.
How is Roxy feeling after everything that Ronnie has done?
"She's basically very confused. On the one hand, Roxy is very loyal towards her sister despite her mistakes and I think, these days, she'll back Ronnie no matter what she does. But at the same time, I think she's finding it very hard to come to terms with what Ronnie has done on this occasion. Roxy is quite a moral person, and obviously what Ronnie did was mega, mega wrong. So Roxy is battling loyalty against morals all the way through. But ultimately, I think it's loyalty that wins through."
Do you think this is the most testing time yet for Roxy and Ronnie's relationship?
"Yeah, I think it's definitely among the hardest times. I think having to accept that Archie had raped Ronnie was also a very testing time for Roxy, and the two sisters have had various other testing times during their time on the show. But this one is definitely up there."
As Roxy visited Ronnie on the night that James died, does she wish she'd done anything differently?
"Oh yeah, she totally blames herself. She now thinks, 'Oh my God, I left you to go gallivanting with Christian when you obviously needed help'. So now she's really tearing herself up about it because she thinks that it's her fault."
We'll see Roxy become quite involved in Ronnie's legal case, won't we?
"We will - she hires a new lawyer for Ronnie after hearing that she's sacked her last solicitor because she doesn't want to be released. We'll also see her talking to Jack about the case and trying to get him involved. Roxy just wants to get her sister out of prison - that's all she wants. She can see that Jack is falling apart and she can't bear to see that, so she thinks that if Ronnie comes out, Jack will start to pull himself together."
Do you think we're seeing a new side of Roxy as she's having to take control of the situation?
"Yeah, I think this is definitely the start of her growing up, which is nice to see! It's definitely the start of her standing on her own two feet. Whether or not she'll make a pig's ear of it remains to be seen, but it's definitely a transition for her."
Glenda was never the best mother, but does part of Roxy wish that she was around during this difficult time?
"I think Roxy probably wishes she had a decent mother with her! If anything, I think she actually wishes that her aunty Peggy was around, as she absolutely hates her mother. But I don't think she misses Glenda at all - it's definitely Peggy that she wishes was there."
As the storyline moves forward, do you think Ronnie can be redeemed?
"I'm not sure but I don't think so. At the moment Ronnie doesn't want to be, and obviously Sam is leaving, but who knows?"
We've often heard about how you and Sam Womack have a real laugh on set, but is the atmosphere any different when you're filming these really heavy scenes?
"No, not really. When we're doing all of the heavy stuff, we both know how the other likes to work - I know how she works, she knows how I work and we give each other our faith. Generally though, we have always laughed together since we started working together - it's the way we work together. It's nice and it's always been that way."
It's sometimes been noted that Ronnie has seemed more like a mother to Roxy than a sister. How do you think Roxy will cope without her around later this year?
"I think it'll continue the period of transition for Roxy. When Ronnie isn't around, Roxy is going to have to be more independent. I think ever since James was born, Ronnie hasn't been a mother figure to Roxy at all because she's had her own problems, and Roxy has been the one mothering Ronnie throughout the whole thing. I think Roxy has had a lot of practice to prepare her for when Ronnie leaves, and she definitely hasn't had anyone looking after her for a long time."
So many characters connected to Roxy have either left or are leaving EastEnders, so are you interested to see where they take the character next?
"Oh God, yeah! Well, luckily we've had the arrival of Michael Moon, who Roxy is now with, and I'm loving working with Steve John Shepherd because he's a brilliant actor. So it's nice for me to have a bit of variety. It's always nice to have variety as an actress, but now that everyone's leaving, the character has no choice but to interact with other people. So far, I've had such great stuff with Steve that you haven't seen on screen yet, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where else it's going to go…"
In a recent interview, Bryan Kirkwood compared Michael Moon to the late Archie because of the way that he treats people. Have you also noticed a similarity between the two characters?
"Yeah! But I don't think that Roxy is aware that he's so much like Archie at the moment. She doesn't quite know why she likes him, but she definitely does enjoy being in a relationship with him. I think it's the most interested that Roxy has been in someone since Sean. Roxy isn't quite sure what it is about Michael that makes her like him, but as Rita, I'm sure that it's because he reminds her of her dad."
Roxy's missing money was quite a big plot point earlier this year. After finding out that Glenda was telling the truth about her affair with Phil, do you think Roxy has an inkling she was also being honest about the stolen cash?
"No, I don't think she believes a word of it, which is hilarious as she's got it completely wrong! But luckily, Roxy has got the sentiment right, which was that Glenda was a cow! Whether or not she did what Roxy thought she did, she was still a cow, so she's well rid of her."
Were you sad to see Glynis Barber leave the show?
"Oh yeah, I was really sad, as I got really close to her when she was here. For me, my dad went, my sister's going, my mum went, so it's hard! But I'm still in touch with Glynis and I'll be going out for dinner with her soon - it'll be me, Sam and Glynis. That'll be really nice."
As we recently saw Roxy decide to cut her losses with the salon, do you think we could see a new career for her in the coming months?
"I have no idea! I'd quite like them to pick up the DJ-ing thing again, because I thought that was fun."
Roxy also recently had the brief surrogacy storyline with Christian and Syed. Could that be revisited in the future?
"I don't know, but I think it may be revisited further down the line. I'm not 100% sure, but anything's possible."
Do you think Roxy will ever get on with Syed?
"Probably not - I think Roxy thinks that Syed's a little weed, and she doesn't really like him!"
Are you glad that Roxy and Christian's friendship is still going strong?
"Oh my God, definitely. Me and Johnny Partridge have such a laugh, in the same way that me and Sam do. We get fits of the giggles and he's brilliant - I'm really, really close to Johnny in real life, so I love working with him."
Finally, do you think it'll be strange to be at EastEnders without Sam around?
"Oh, it's going to be awful. I'm dreading it, I'm absolutely dreading it. She really is like my sister, and even though I'm sure it'll be fine as I have so many friends here, to think that she won't be around is really quite depressing! But I'll have to get on with it!"
