Gillian Taylforth has been helping writers with her ‘EastEnders’ character Kathy Beale’s return.
The 60-year-old actress made a shock appearance in the BBC One soap’s 30th anniversary live episode earlier this year and is now preparing for a permanent return and she’s admitted that while the writers have been great, she’s had to remind them about some of her early storylines.
Speaking about how she joined the soap before some of the writers had even been born, Gillian said: "It’s not a problem here. The writers said, ‘If there’s anything you think doesn’t sound right for Kath, just come and talk to us’.
"But I’ve got nine scripts so far and they’re all fantastic. Sometimes I’ll remind them of something from the beginning, like her being Mark Fowler’s godmother or having been a vegetarian originally."
The former ‘Hollyoaks’ star confessed she couldn’t hold back the tears when executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins first asked her to reprise her role.
She told Radio Times magazine: "Dom told me that they wanted me to come back. And he got all emotional and cried. I was so shocked that I didn’t. But then I got into the car to go home and sobbed, ‘They want me back! They want me back!’ "
However, Gillian was slightly concerned about how they were planning to explain the fact that Kathy was supposed to have died in a car crash 15 years ago.
She added: "Yeah, I was wondering about that and he told me a little bit. Obviously, she was killed off-screen. And it’s funny because a lot of people have always said to me, ‘Why don’t you come back to ‘EastEnders’?’ And when I say, ‘I’m dead!’ they always respond, ‘Well, I never saw that!’ "
Gillian Taylforth helping EastEnders writers with Kathy Beale’s return
