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carmelina
Joined: 12 May 2006 Location: Estonia
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:58 pm Post subject: EE: Wendy's big finish on New Year show |
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Most EastEnders fans will have heard by now that Pauline Fowler is to make a dramatic exit from Walford on Christmas Day.
What they may not know is that won't be the last they see of actress Wendy Richard over the festive period.
She'll be appearing on the BBC One entertainment show The Big Finish on New Year's Eve.
The programme is hosted by Graham Norton, and is also due to feature contributions from former Coronation Street stars Richard Fleeshman and Sally Lindsay.
Then on New's Year Day, Wendy will be the focus of the documentary EastEnders Revealed: Goodbye Pauline.
She will talk about some of her favourite moments from soap, while former co-stars including Anna Wing and Todd Carty, who played her on-screen mum and son respectively, will pay their tributes.
The star, who was previously best known for her role as Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served?, famously joined the soap serial when it launched in February, 1985.
She was one of only two remaining original cast members - the other is Adam Woodyatt, who plays Ian Beale.
However, after nearly 22 years of playing the same character, Wendy decided she was ready to hang up Pauline's dowdy cardigan for good.
The actress says: "I've loved every minute of being part of this fantastic show, and will stay in touch with the many friends I've made."
Published 12 December 2006
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Skylace Admin
Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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I had heard about this. Thanks for posting the full story! |
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faceless admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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I'll try and catch that Eastenders REvealed show, but I'm not promising anything - New Year's day tends to be a bit blurry round here! |
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Skylace Admin
Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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faceless wrote: | I'll try and catch that Eastenders REvealed show, but I'm not promising anything - New Year's day tends to be a bit blurry round here! |
If you can that's great, if not totally understand! |
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faceless admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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EXCLUSIVE: WHEN PAULINE DIES MY TEARS ARE REAL
MARTIN AND SONIA ON FOWLERS' FINALE
By Victoria Kennedy
MILLIONS of EastEnders fans will be sobbing over their mince pies when Pauline Fowler collapses and dies on Christmas Day. But there is one person who will be even more upset about the departure of one of the BBC soap's best-loved characters - her on-screen son for the past decade, James Alexandrou. The 21-year-old, who plays fruit and veg stallholder Martin, is still reeling from the fact that bosses are allowing the show's longest-standing actress, Wendy Richard, to leave. And he admits the tears you see him cry in his final speaking scenes with her - filmed a week before her actual departure - are real.
"Yes, I cried when she left but, luckily, I had a scene where I had to," says James. "Wendy said: 'I don't know what you're crying for - I don't leave for another week! I've spoken to her on the phone a million times since and it's such a shame that she isn't there any more," James says. "It's horrible. She has been there since the beginning. As a fan of the show, I'm sad to see her go. She was a legend."
Wendy announced that she was leaving the soap after 22 years, after a disagreement with TV bosses over her storyline. Her final scenes will show Pauline being snubbed by everyone after it was revealed that she lied about having a brain tumour. Distressed about Martin getting back with ex-wife Sonia, who she despises, Pauline decides to leave the Square. But before she goes, she receives a visit from Sonia. As their argument gets heated, we're left wondering if her eventual death is a tragic accident - or something more sinister.
Sitting in a hotel bar in Elstree, Herts, near the East- Enders set, James and Natalie Cassidy (who plays Sonia), are still coming to terms with how surreal it felt filming their final scenes with Wendy. "It really got to me and I got all my emotions out there," recalls James. "It was hard. Wendy's like my showbiz mum. I grew up with her and she showed me the ropes and taught me what to do professionally." The storyline will lead to a murder whodunnit - with viewers left to suspect that Sonia might have caused Wendy's demise. "Sonia might end up being the most hated character for a while," Natalie, 23, says. "It's great. It worked on the who-shot-Phil story. That was amazing. So I hope it gets remembered as one of those types of things."
IT will also set the cogs in motion for Natalie and James's own departures from the soap. Both actors joined while they were still kids - Natalie was 10 and James was 11. They have both grown up in front of the nation but decided it was time to move on - before they got stuck there. "It was a big decision," says Natalie. "We were talking about it and it came to the point where I thought 'if I don't do it now, I might never do it.' I still love the show but it was just about seeing what else was around - and if I didn't try it now, I'd still be wondering." Their final scenes will be shown in February but both stars actually completed filming a few days ago.
During our chat it's clear they're enjoying being in each other's company again after a few days apart. They were friends even before they landed roles in EastEnders, as they both attended the Anna Scher Theatre School in London. They are very relaxed together. At one point, Natalie flicks her hair and James instinctively reaches over and smoothes a misplaced strand.
"We've always been close," say Natalie. "We've grown up together like brother and sister." James agrees: "If you go through anyone's life between 10 and 21 there's ups and downs, there's body hair growing, hormones all over the place. It is one of the hardest times of your life and we've done that on-screen. But it's nice to have shared that with someone and that's what made us grow close. It will be odd not working together. I remember when Martin and Sonia split up and she went off with Naomi. We weren't working with each other and it was odd. I'd go in and ask 'where's Natalie? We have this telepathic thing. We didn't have to work on a scene as hard as with someone else because we know how each other works. That hasn't quite kicked in yet. Now, I'm just enjoying not reading scripts but then I'll probably call her and say 'I miss you'."
Natalie already has plans for what she's going to do with some of the memorabilia collected from the show. "I'm going to sell Sonia's wedding ring on eBay," she laughs. "I could get a lot for that." James has also hoarded a few souvenirs. "Yes, I have all the service sheets from the show's funerals, like Nana Moon's and even Pauline's," he grins. "I've collected stuff as I've gone along and have a big boxful. I have Martin's trailer licence and even bits of glass from smashed windows."
THE two stars are still mulling over their futures away from the programme but there's one thing they won't be doing - appearing on reality TV shows. "We're very private," says James. You don't really see any stories about us and our private lives, and that's because me and Natalie are actors, not celebrities. Fame is just a part of what we're doing - that's why you'll never see us on a reality show."
For the past couple of months James has been dating actress Kara Tointon, 22, who plays Dawn Swann in Enders, but he's desperate to keep their romance out of the spotlight. I never wanted anyone to know," James says. "The fact it has even come out at all is too much."
He has earned plenty of admirers over the years for his broody 6ft 3in stature and boy-next-door looks. Peaches Geldof even described him recently as "hot". But James blushes at the mere mention. "I hate it when people say I'm a pin-up, it's just not true," he shrugs. "I'll leave that sex symbol business to Rob Kazinsky (who plays Sean Slater)." Natalie also raised a few eyebrows when Sonia embarked on a lesbian relationship in the soap with Naomi, played by Petra Letang. "It was funny when we were filming because you'd see props boys who weren't supposed to be there just having a perv," she giggles.
Natalie and James were in the soap for so long, they also managed to wield a little more power than newer arrivals... "Yes, you build up the confidence to actually say if something in the script isn't right," James says. "There are new people, like Lacey and co, who are stressing out because they're doing something they don't think their character would do. So I'd say 'if you don't want to do it, don't'. Having said that, there's something in the Christmas storyline where Martin had to leave his mobile on the table in the pub and I told them he wouldn't do that. But, in the end, I had to agree to it because it was in the storyline!"
NATALIE and James both took it upon themselves to take care of younger stars such as Lacey Turner and Louisa Lytton. "It must be harder coming in when you're 17 or 18 than it was for us," Natalie reasons. "They'd been used to going about their business and not worrying and then suddenly they're on the biggest show in the country." And like so many of us, James and his family will be tuning in on Christmas Day, to see Martin proposing to Sonia in the Queen Vic. It's a tradition for us to watch it at Christmas - we did that even before I was on it," James explains. Apparently, I used to dance along to the theme tune in my nappy."
But as Sonia and Martin prepare to leave the Square, there is a glimmer of hope for their many fans... "The door is being left open for us," reveals James. "So I'd never say never to going back. We'd be fools to do that."
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eefanincan Admin
Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Location: Canada
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:49 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for posting that Face. I've got to say that I won't miss Pauline one bit after the way she's been acting lately. If the writers are trying to make sure that nobody misses the Fowler family, they're certainly going about it in the right way! |
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