EastEnders' Lorraine Stanley auditioned for much-loved character years before playing Karen Taylor
Former EastEnders star Lorraine Stanley went up for the role of a beloved character years before she was cast as Karen Taylor in 2017.
EastEnders alum Lorraine Stanley auditioned to play Tina Carter years before being cast as Karen Taylor.
The actress, 49, first appeared on the BBC soap as a young Mo Harris (Laila Morse) in the 2004 spin-off EastEnders: Pat and Mo, which explored the feud between Mo and Pat Butcher (Pam St. Clement).
Lorraine then played Thelma Bragg, a pub landlady, in eight episodes for a storyline about Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), arrested for sleeping with her 14-year-old daughter, Linzi (Amy-Leigh Hickman) - also known as Star - a year before the actress rocked up to Walford as the loud-and-fiercely loyal Karen in 2017, a recurring role that lasted until 2023.
However, Lorraine could have started being a show regular four years prior as Tina, the lively sister of Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), who was killed by the evil Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith) in December 2020, if Luisa Bradshaw-White, 51, had not secured the part in November 2013.
Appearing on the latest episode of the Secure the Insecure podcast, Lorraine revealed: "I went up for Tina once, years and years ago.
"It was in between Pat and Mo, the spin-off, and then I'd done one of the classic EastEnders workshops where you're not going for any particular part. Tina was the only part I actually went up for, as in a character."
Julia Crampsie, EastEnders' casting director, "always wanted" Lorraine in the soap.
The star continued: "She always said that. And a big up to Julia Crampsie because she's amazing, and she kept bringing me in for different roles on different TV shows."
But the soap's bosses were "unsure" about casting Lorraine as Karen because they thought it was "too soon", given she played Thema a year beforehand.
Lorraine added: "But I don't think they could find a skanky enough actor."
Fans immediately fell in love with Karen, who was a mum to six children - Chantelle Atkins (Jessica Plummer), Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters), Keegan Butcher-Baker (Zack Morris), Bernadette Taylor (Clair Norris), Chatham Taylor (Alfie Jacobs), and Riley Taylor (Tom Jacobs).
But in 2023, bosses wrote Karen out of the show as part of a fake-kidnap storyline that involved Keanu, his girlfriend Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), and their son, Albie, and Karen left Albert Square with her remaining family and £50,000 cash stolen from Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).
However, the Taylor matriarch briefly returned in early 2024 for scenes relating to the death of Keanu - who was murdered by Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), and buried in the Bridge Street Cafe by Linda, Sharon, Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) and Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth).
And although Lorraine knew the Taylors would be axed from EastEnders as more of her on-screen family members left the show, her exit was painful and compared it to "being dumped by your boyfriend".
She admitted: "It was like a breakup. It was like a relationship. It was like being dumped by your boyfriend.
"Looking back now, I suppose I was really gutted. It was really sad. And you sort of saw it ebbing away, actually, because Danny was killed and Chantel was killed, and then Zach left, Keegan.
"It felt like it was sort of breaking away. But, yeah, to be told, 'We're not renewing your contract,' it's never nice. Like I say, the only way I can explain it is it's like being split up with your boyfriend."
