Inside Soap UK 35 - 2020

“What is it with soaps and former pop stars?” We have our first big casting announcement for the new EastEnders episodes on the gossip pages this week, as Mica Paris joins the show. What is it with soaps and former pop stars, eh? Back when I was a lad, a soap role was what you quit to launch your pop career, with Kylie Minogue leading the charge. She was followed – with varying levels of success – by the likes of Martine McCutcheon, Natalie Imbruglia, Adam Rickitt and, of course, Stefan Dennis (Don’t It Make You Feel Good – a classic!). But from the second Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp stepped on to the Square as Steve Owen, the tide began to turn. Over the years, we’ve seen great performances from…

Wicked DI Malone continues to make Dawn and Harriet’s lives a misery this week – even though he’s stone-cold dead, and resting in a shallow grave with one of the vicar’s former parishioners! Emmerdale viewers were stunned when Dawn put an end to the detective’s menacing threats once and for all by firing three bullets at him, in a desperate bid to keep both her and Harriet alive. Yet as Billy is taken in for questioning over Malone’s disappearance, can Dawn hold it together and keep her murderous secret safe? We caught up with Dales star Olivia Bromley, who plays Dawn, to find out her thoughts on the shock twist that no one saw coming… “Keeping such a secret could see Dawn spiral into self-destruction…” Hi, Olivia! What was your…

Harriet may be convinced that she and Dawn have got away with murder, but star Olivia isn’t so sure! With DS Wise sniffing around, investigating Malone’s disappearance, Olivia reckons her alter ego Dawn could be in big trouble… “She should be very worried!” warns the star. “A senior police officer is missing, and Dawn made a formal complaint about him just days earlier. It will be very hard for them to prove it was self-defence.” But it’s not just the cops who are suspicious – after Billy is released from questioning this week, Dawn’s dad Will wants answers about what’s going on! So could he be the one to get to the truth? And would Dawn let either Will or Billy take the rap for a crime she committed? “Dawn…

“When we shut down filming for lockdown, we were only a week away from Malone’s murder. We’d spent months carefully crafting the storyline, and we had been building to this moment since Malone first appeared. So when I first picked up the scripts during lockdown to see what we needed to change, my heart sank! What I hadn’t realised was that changing it would make it more dramatic, exciting and thrilling! Originally, the whole thing would have been more physical. Harriet would use all her strength to get Malone off Dawn, causing him to hit his head on the sideboard, seemingly dead – but when he reared back up, the fatal blow would be delivered by Dawn, with a candlestick. Clearly there was no way that fight would work with…

Furious Alya smashes up Speed Daal this week, after Geoff’s goading sees the normally cool, calm and collected woman erupt in an explosive rage… Alya is disgusted when Geoff returns to his job at the restaurant and informs her that he’s not leaving. Unable to cope with his vicious attempts to destroy her, Alya goes into a frenzy of destruction. “Alya is so angry!” confirms Sair Khan, who plays her. “Her wish was to look after Speed Daal and her gran’s house at No.6 until Yasmeen is freed from prison. Frustratingly, she’s already lost her fight to keep Geoff out of her family home, so the business is all the Nazirs have. I think the outburst is more than just stress – what Alya’s going through is a very real…

Hi, Sair! What was it like to go the full Hulk on set?! It was so much fun to film those scenes! There was a small ‘stunt’ element involved, so I got to work with Kate Waters, who is the fight arranger at Corrie. She gave me some great tips on how I could physicalise Alya’s rage – in a safe way! We love how strong Ryan is being for Alya these days. Could they get more serious in the future? Ryan is Alya’s rock. He’s been so supportive and understanding. He’s also seen Geoff’s behaviour first-hand, so knows how manipulative Geoff can be. I hope we see Ryan and Alya’s relationship flourish after this, there is so much more to explore with those two. My biggest hope is that…