EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy brands soap a ‘burden’ and insists she ‘doesn’t miss’ it following her exit after 30 years
However, Natalie has already issues a stern warning to soap bosses about the future of Sonia
EASTENDERS actress Natalie Cassidy has confessed that she does not miss the soap having filmed her final scenes for the show.
The actress quit her role as Sonia Fowler after more than 30 years on the BBC soap opera with her final scenes expected to play out over the next few weeks.
Opening up about her exit, Natalie revealed that she is glad to be free of the “burden” that comes with working on a soap.
She was speaking to her co-host Joanna Page on the duo’s BBC Sounds podcast Off The Telly.
Discussing her brand new hair-do, Natalie said: “It is nice to have a little bit of length and feel a bit different from Sonia.
“The burden of learning lines every night has gone which is a really lovely thing.
“I feel like I’ve finally got the evenings back.”
As Joanna quizzed if she was forgetting if she’d actually left or not, Nat said: “No I’m not forgetting.
“At the moment it is early days and you always miss the people and miss your friends but I am not missing the work.”
Sonia was at the centre of drama on the show last month thanks to being central to the programme’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
She gave birth to evil k.i.l.l.e.r Reiss Colwell’s baby, whom she named Julia, during the show’s live episode.
But whilst Natalie is happy with her decision to quit the show for now, she has already waged war on soap bosses if they dared to recast.
She said: “If they recast Sonia, I’m going to Borehamwood [where the show is shot] with a sledgehammer.
“I feel very protective about Sonia.
“She could d.i.e off screen, though.
“We could be watching it one night and you know the old phone call: Cathy runs in saying, ‘Ian, I’ve just had a message, Sonia’s dead’.
“That could easily happen.
“But I do hope, like for the 50th anniversary, that I could pop back.”
