Tanya Franks used to study drunk people at London Bridge station on a Friday night to learn how to act intoxicated.
The ‘EastEnders’ actress – who plays Rainie Branning in the BBC One soap – would regularly head to the train station on a weekly basis to see office workers who had been out for the evening "try not to fall on the tracks", and the tactic taught her a lot about how to portray someone who has had one too many.
Speaking about how to play drunk, she said: "Go to London Bridge station on a Friday night and watch people try not to fall on to the tracks. I used to watch women, all dressed in their office gear, walking along drunk at 11pm. I was thinking they would tip over at any moment and they managed not to.
"So it was about studying other people and their physicality when they’re drunk."
While Tanya regularly puts in pulsating performances as Rainie in ‘EastEnders’, she is "not a fan" of award ceremonies, and thinks shows should be "creating good work" for audiences to enjoy rather than trying to outdo each other.
She said: "I’m not a fan of awards ceremonies. That’s not the point of this profession – we should be creating good work for an audience to enjoy, not doing it to compete against another show.
"And it’s all completely subjective and political. I’ve always said awards ceremonies are terrible unless you’re the one that’s winning – and even then it’s lovely you or your show has been acknowledged but the other shows are equally as good."
Tanya’s drunk studying has come in handy while portraying recovering crack cocaine and heroin addict Rainie off her head at times, and the 51-year-old star loves portraying the no-nonsense character.
She added to Metro newspaper: "I am thoroughly enjoying playing Rainie right now. I love the character and the people I’m working with. It’s a great vibe working on ‘EastEnders’ – there’s no egos flying around, it’s a lovely team of people."
Rainie’s latest storyline has seen her marry Max Branning (Jake Wood) as part of a business deal, only for the pair to fall for each other, and she recently admitted she and Jake "can’t stop laughing" about the plot.
She said: "We really do get on and I think we were both so surprised by this storyline that it was one of those things where we can’t stop laughing about it.
"We surprised each other, and the chemistry has really worked.
"We work in a similar way and we do our homework together sometimes in the studio, so we’re really having a good time."
Tanya Franks studied drunk workers to aid acting
