Natalie Cassidy 'doesn't miss burden' of working on EastEnders
Natalie Cassidy has admitted she doesn't miss the "burden" of learning lines for 'EastEnders' every night - revealing she has finally got her "evenings back" following her exit from the BBC soap.
Natalie Cassidy doesn't miss the "burden" of working on 'EastEnders'.
The 41-year-old actress has played Sonia Fowler on the BBC soap opera since 1993 but she's now filmed her final scenes and her character's exit is expected to play out over the next few weeks - and Natalie admits she is glad she no longer has to learn her lines every night because she's finally got her evenings back".
During an appearance on the 'Off The Telly' podcast, Natalie explained: "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."
She went on to add: "At the moment it is early days and you always miss the people and miss your friends but I am not missing the work."
It comes after Natalie admitted she will be furious if 'EastEnders' bosses ever decide to recast Sonia and joked she will take a "sledgehammer" to the studios if someone else is ever hired for the role.
She is quoted by The Sun newspaper's TVBiz column as saying: "If they recast Sonia, I’m going to Borehamwood [where the show is shot] with a sledgehammer.
“I feel very protective about Sonia."
Natalie is the only actress to have ever played Sonia, but numerous characters have been recast several times over the course of the programme's 40-year history.
Most notably, six actors have assumed the role of Ben Mitchell since the character debuted in 1996, and was most recently played by Max Bowden.
Daniella Westbrook originated the role of Sam Mitchell in 1990 but was replaced by Kim Medcalf in 2002 and even though she returned to the part in 2009, Kim took over once again in 2022 for a couple of years.
