EastEnders legend reveals why character ‘doesn’t want to come back’

EastEnders fable Lindsey Coulson has reflected connected her Carol Jackson days up of the BBC soap’s 40th day celebrations.

Carol, who the prima played intermittently betwixt 1993 and 2015, has been notably ‘missing’ during a fig of cardinal stories for her household implicit the past year.

When she departed Albert Square, she had separated from spouse David Wicks (Michael French), before riding into the sunset connected a motorbike.

She has been referenced respective times since, though Lindsey has not reprised the role.

This is contempt eldest girl Bianca (Patsy Palmer) returning to Walford and subsequently vanishing – with her relatives unaware that she’s actually being held hostage by slayer Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman).

Reiss, who is engaged to Carol’s youngest girl Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy), allowed his fiancée to instrumentality the blasted for a execution helium committed.

Heavily pregnant, she faced the imaginable of spending the remainder of her beingness down bars – until Bianca threw a lifeline and recorded a confession video from captivity.

Many viewers person questioned wherever Carol is, and wherefore she hasn’t been backmost to prevention her daughters.

The reply to that question? Lindsey Coulson is starring successful the latest bid of Waterloo Road, which kicks disconnected connected BBC One and iPlayer adjacent week.

Lindsey told Metro that her quality Dame Stella Drake – who is the academy’s caller caput – is ‘pretty strict’ and ‘pretty old-school’.

‘She cares passionately astir education. She’s astir apt not idiosyncratic you could peculiarly connection alternate accusation to astatine the moment. I anticipation she softens a small done the archetypal season’ she explained.

‘I deliberation she’s conscionable getting to grips with being astatine this school. It’s a schoolhouse that’s had a spot of past in presumption of murder truthful she’s trying to helping her mode done that.

‘I deliberation besides due to the fact that she’s been astatine Ofsted for 15 years erstwhile to this, I don’t deliberation she thought she was going to travel backmost into mainstream schoolhouse but due to the fact that determination was a occupation astatine Ofsted she’s had to travel backmost again.

‘So I deliberation she’s somewhat connected the backmost ft with however schools person changed successful that time. She’s not ever connected apical of everything astatine the infinitesimal truthful I deliberation that’s wherefore she comes crossed arsenic being a spot strict and what she says goes.’

Stella waltzes consecutive into Waterloo Road and ruffles feathers with some unit and pupils successful the aftermath of erstwhile principal Steve Savage’s (Jason Manford) imprisonment.

‘I don’t deliberation [she] suffers fools, and she thinks this is the close mode to bash everything. I deliberation she learns by it and she learns a batch from [assistant head] Coral (Rachel Leskovac)’ Lindsey explained.

Despite looking up to the future, she besides took clip to wage tribute to her EastEnders days and to supply an update connected wherever she thinks Carol is now.

‘I was fixed a agelong clip with large storylines to get amended and better. It’s astir increasing arsenic an histrion successful that and I was fortunate to get immoderate large stuff. It’s superb it’s been going for 40 years’ she said.

‘It’s superb that those actors and unit members and everybody that works determination person that occupation due to the fact that without that that’s a immense magnitude of radical that aren’t employed.

‘I’m truly arrogant of having been a portion of that.’

She continued: ‘In my head, Carol Jackson is somewhere, she’s done an Open University degree, she’s speechmaking books connected a formation with a truly beauteous antheral successful her beingness and she doesn’t truly privation to travel backmost to that Square astatine each due to the fact that she’d extremity up moving successful the caff oregon the pub.

‘I similar that she’s gone disconnected into the wherever and successful my caput she’s truly grown arsenic a idiosyncratic and is good.

‘I truly loved Carol, due to the fact that you’re besides bringing your -isms, my Lindseyisms, to immoderate of the bits that you do.

‘Obviously we’re fixed storylines and you person to fulfil that but you tin effort and bring immoderate of your consciousness of aforesaid to it. I ever liked her arsenic a character.’

It’s an breathtaking clip for the BBC dramas, with the fifteenth bid of Waterloo Road opening Tuesday, February 11th, and EastEnders marking a milestone forty years with a unrecorded episode and high-stakes play the pursuing week.

If you’ve got a soap oregon TV story, video oregon pictures get successful interaction by emailing us soaps@metro.co.uk – we’d emotion to perceive from you.

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