Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha admitted she didn’t know how to cope with one of her “rubbish” storylines while starring on EastEnders.
The TV star, 58, played the role of Annie Palmer on the BBC soap from 1997 until 1999 and found herself involved in some major storylines.
Annie and her father George (Paul Moriarty) ran plenty of illegal schemes in the square, before she went on to start a loan shark business with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).
READ MORE: Loose Women’s Coleen Nolan snaps back at Jane Moore after cheeky smoking dig
After getting involved with a rival business gang, Annie was nearly beaten to death and left for New Zealand to live with her father.
(Image: BBC)
Aside from her countless dodgy dealings, Annie also had a role in the local council and helped Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) run for a council seat.
But Nadia admitted that specific storyline turned slightly “weird” as she looked back on her time on the BBC soap.
The actress exclusively told Daily Star: “I remember me and Adam Woodyatt wondering how we were going to cope if we had to do one more week of our rubbish storyline.
“Because at one point my storyline went a bit weird when I was working for the council with the rubbish.”
(Image: BBC)
Recalling the moment she secured the role, Nadia admitted she was incredibly happy because she was struggling financially at the time.
“When I got the part I could not believe it. I was so happy. I was so broke,” she explained.
“I remember thinking there wasn’t going to be a Christmas that year, that’s how broke I was. I was literally thinking about pennies on the street and so it was totally extraordinary.”
Nadia revealed she was “petrified” at the thought of people watching her scenes and envisioned a way of it never being shown.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“I remember being so petrified. I had built it up in my head that I was going to be so s***,” the mum-of-two said.
She joked: “I imagined this vault where all the videos were kept, this is how naïve I was, and I was hoping there would be a contained small fire where the film was so it could be burnt and never to be seen again.”
Nadia recently became an ambassador for true-crime TV channel CBS reality and admitted if channels like this had been around when she was younger, she would have opted for a different career path.
“I think if there had been crime channels like CBS reality and podcasts when I was a child, though I probably never would have been able to qualify because of my ADHD, I think I might have gone into criminology.”
CBS have just released a new series, Donal MacIntyre’s Killer Evidence, which investigates 10 shocking crimes that were solved using forensic evidence.
Nadia said: “What I like about the way CBS reality do it is that you have to remember there are victims and families.
“And I really hate the sensationalist stuff. I like the real grit of what happened and how we got there.”
Donal MacIntyre’s Killer Evidence airs Monday nights at 10pm on CBS Reality until 29th May. CBS Reality is available on Freeview (67), Sky (146), Virgin (148) and Freesat (135) and via the CBS Catchup Channels UK App.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
