EastEnders legend Jessie Wallace hits out at 'snobbery' surrounding soaps: 'I don't understand it!'
Jessie Wallace - who has played Kat Slater in 'EastEnders' since 2000 - "doesn't understand the snobbery" around soaps.
Jessie Wallace "doesn't understand the snobbery" around soaps.
The 53-year-old actress has played Kat Slater on the BBC flagship 'EastEnders' on and off since 2000 and just days ahead of the programme's 40th anniversary, she has insisted that some "don't realise how hard" it is to create a show that airs multiple episodes week.
She told Radio Times: "I don’t understand it. You get huge film actors coming in and they don’t realise how hard it is to produce what we do. I remember Joan Collins presenting at the British Soap Awards and saying, 'A successful actor is a working actor'. Soaps are a fabulous thing to be a part of."
The soap legend was then asked to recall any "iconic" characters she admitted growing up, and named Elsie Tanner from ITV rival 'Coronation Street', who appeared on the serial from its inception in 1960 until the 1980s.
She said: "Pat Phoenix as Elsie Tanner in 'Coronation Street'. Her presence, her style, not mincing her words, saying it as it is and putting people in their place. I thought she was stunning. The character just jumped out at me."
Kat even got to play actress Pat in the 2010 drama 'The Road to Coronation Street' and admitted that she has always been "drawn into" the genre since she was a child.
She said: "I was drawn in straight away, even as a child. In that first episode a man was found dead in his house, someone punched through a window in the pub, there was so much going on.
"When I played Pat Phoenix in [2010 BBC drama] The Road to Coronation Street, there was a scene where the cleaning lady watches rehearsals on the monitor and gets really invested – and producers realised this was the people’s drama. Everyone can relate to soaps."
