I was devastated when EastEnders’ new boss axed me the first day they met me – it felt like killing a loved one
EVERYONE knows soap deaths can be brutal, but none realise it quite as much as EastEnders icon Samantha Womack.
The actress, who played fan favourite Ronnie Mitchell, has revealed her ‘devastation’ when she heard her character was going to get the chop.
Ronnie was a big part of life in Albert Square for ten years before a new producer decided her time in EastEnders was up.
The no-nonsense gym owner went through several hard hitting plotlines, including one that saw her suffer from underage rape.
In another shocking scene, she swapped her dead baby for her close friend’s son while overwhelmed with grief.
Samantha shared that she actually thought her character would be able to tackle less gritty scenes when Sean O’Connor joined the soap’s production team in 2017.
She added: “He was coming in, I was excited because I thought she [Ronnie] had got really dark and it become really over-sensationalized.
“So with this new guy coming in, great, I’d heard he wanted to take it back to kind of reality, less murders. And I was thinking great, that’s right up my street.”
Sadly, that was not at all what Sean had in mind.
Once they met, the actress shared her opinion that Ronnie’s storylines had become too dark.
The producer agreed – but then said that was why he planned to kill her off.
“I was devastated because I wasn’t planning to leave,” Samantha sighed.
“I was ‘like what?!’ First time I ever met him.
“So yeah, I had to drown myself. That was really hard, having to kill someone that I loved.”
In the show Ronnie died alongside her sister Roxy in a hotel swimming pool.
To make matters worse, it was on her wedding day.
She attempted to go for a drunken dip in her bridal dress and when it started to weigh her down, Roxy dived in to help – but ultimately both of them drowned.
On the positive side, Samantha made her way into the world of theatre – which she says suits her even better than telly did.
She told the Daily Star: “It’s much better in so many ways – the hours, for a start. I am awful first thing in the morning, I can’t function. They say people are either night or morning people – well I will happily sit up ‘til four or five am. But when you’re on a soap you have to get up at five.
“And I always fall out with everyone in television. Someone is always telling you what to do with your character – I just get really irritated and I end up arguing and then getting sacked.”