EastEnders writer reveals iconic storyline that was ‘tough’ to do

BAFTA Award winning scriptwriter Sarah Phelps, who wrote implicit 90 episodes of EastEnders, has discussed penning Barbara Windsor’s last occurrence arsenic Peggy Mitchell.

Phelps joined the BBC soap successful 2002, and continued contributing words until her departure successful March 2016.

She’s besides written A Very British Scandal, No Angels and Holby Blue, and is the latest impermanent connected Lacey Turner’s caller podcast We Started Here.

In each episode, Lacey, who has appeared arsenic Stacey Slater since 2004, digs heavy into the soap opera pasts of celebrated tv and movie icons, some connected and disconnected screen.

The bid launched past week, with Kat Slater prima Jessie Wallace arsenic her archetypal interviewee.

In tomorrow’s edition, Lacey discusses however she came to articulation the amusement – primitively auditioning to beryllium portion of the Miller clan – arsenic good arsenic Jean Slater’s (Gillian Wright) bipolar storyline.

Speaking of her emotion for the genre, Sarah says: ‘Never caput what you tin execute astatine 9 o’clock astatine night. Never caput what you tin bash with a monolithic budget. Never caput what you tin bash with the large names that you’ve had to walk a twelvemonth moving retired their contract.

‘This is what you bash connected the ‘People’s Theatre’, which is however I think, however I consciousness astir EastEnders.

‘This is what you tin do. This is what you tin execute by trusting your audience, by trusting your cast, by trusting your writer.’

The taxable of speech soon moves to penning Barbara Windsor’s final episode, aft 22 years arsenic Peggy.

As viewers volition remember, the matriarch revealed that her bosom crab had returned and chemotherapy wasn’t working.

She settled aged feuds with her erstwhile neighbours, arsenic good arsenic reuniting with sons Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp), earlier hallucinating her frenemy Pat Evans (Pam St Clement) who had died 4 years earlier.

After immoderate reassurance from Pat that she wouldn’t permission her side, she took a lethal overdose of pills truthful that she could extremity her beingness with dignity.

‘I ever deliberation that if you’ve got 1 of those large matriarchs, you’ve got to springiness them an ending, you’ve got to springiness them an out, a due out’ Sarah explained.

‘I didn’t privation it to beryllium each astir masculinity. I wanted it to beryllium about, not conscionable Peggy Mitchell, but I wanted it to beryllium astir Barbara Windsor. And I wanted it to beryllium astir a benignant of consciousness that Peggy took herself isolated and enactment herself backmost unneurotic again.

She continued: ‘Some radical said to me, “Oh no”. I said, “I privation Peggy to beryllium seen without her ‘Peggy-ness’, without the hair, without the makeup, without the clothes” and they went, “Barbara won’t bash that.” And I went, “You ticker me!”

‘I adored her truthful overmuch due to the fact that successful that astir susceptible of moments, she trusted america that we would bash close by her. She trusted each the actors astir her who had known her since time dot.

‘She trusted Pam, she trusted the director, and she really, truly leant into that happening wherever she took it disconnected and she was susceptible and past she went backmost successful and she enactment it backmost connected and looked up astatine Pat and went, “Well” and she went, “Not atrocious for a vessel blonde”

‘But it was that enactment that I spell for her which is “I volition spell arsenic I person lived caput precocious consecutive backmost similar a queen” and I conscionable was truly I was truly arrogant of that.

‘I deliberation Barbara was outstanding and I thought Pam was outstanding and it was truthful moving and it was a due a due exit for a existent soap Matriarch and a taste icon.’

Barbara passed distant successful 2020, aft surviving with Alzheimer’s illness for six years. She had chosen not to marque the diagnosis nationalist until aft she filmed her last storyline.

The quality returned 3 years agone – albeit with Jaime Winstone playing a younger mentation of her – and will look again successful coming weeks arsenic portion of Phil’s intelligence wellness decline.

We Started Here is disposable connected each podcast platforms.

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