Legendary 80s pop star bags role on EastEnders – years after ‘rubbish’ BBC audition
BUCKS Fizz star Cheryl Baker has landed a starring role in EastEnders to mark Eurovision arriving in the UK.
The singer is part of the group, known now as The Fizz, who won the annual song contest in 1981 with Making Your Mind Up.
Now she has landed a part in the soap and will appear on screen next month as residents of Albert Square celebrate the arrival of Eurovision in Liverpool.
Why she ends up in Walford has not yet been revealed.
Speaking about her part, Cheryl, 69, said: “I was so thrilled to be asked to take part in an episode of EastEnders. It’s a British institution, for goodness sake!
“As a real-life ‘Eastender’, I have loved the show since day one and I literally can’t wipe the smile from my face.”
Cheryl, who was born in Bethnal Green, east London, previously failed an audition for the BBC One soap.
Speaking in 2021, she revealed she had gone for a role but didn’t learn the lines.
She explained: “I auditioned for EastEnders recently but I didn’t get the part. I was a bit rubbish really.
“I was a bit nervous and didn’t learn my lines properly.
“I don’t watch any soaps – I’m not a big TV watcher at all. I think it was the part of the woman who runs the theatre school, which is something that I’ve done in the past.
“It was in the midst of lockdown, my daughter was reading the other part and to be perfectly honest I didn’t learn my lines properly. I didn’t deserve the part. However, I’d like them to give me a second chance.
“I’m a very optimistic person, and if something doesn’t happen I believe something better is around the corner.”
The Eurovision Song Contest grand final will be broadcast live on BBC One and Radio 2 from 8pm on May 13.
In the run-up to the event, BBC Breakfast and The One Show will be broadcast live from Liverpool, while Cheryl will also take part in a special edition of Bargain Hunt alongside other former Eurovision contestants.