The Stage

Baker touted for EastEnders role

Published Tuesday 17 February 2004 at 11:25 by Joanna Taylor

Exclusive - Presenter and Bucks Fizz singer Cheryl Baker is being lined up to join the cast of EastEnders for her television acting debut.

The entertainer, who also co-hosted Record Breakers with the late Roy Castle, is expected to take a matriarchal role, filling the void left by Barbara Windsor’s character Peggy Mitchell.

She said: “I have done a workshop for EastEnders where you are given a script and then you have to improvise. It was fabulous and I really enjoyed it and I got a good response. They said they are looking for a part for me.”

The TV performer will be the latest in a line of light entertainers to have landed acting roles in soaps. Game show host and musical star Shane Richie entered EastEnders in 2002 as Alfie Moon and has since won a number of awards, including Most Popular Actor at last year’s National Television Awards.

Similarly, former Wheel of Fortune host and stand-up comic Bradley Walsh has become the latest addition to the cast of Coronation Street. He will be playing Mike Baldwin’s nephew and begins filming scenes in May this year.

Baker continued: “EastEnders is always bringing in new blood and I would love to be some of it. I don’t think it goes against you any more that people know you for other things. Shane was an all-round entertainer and now a straight actor. You don’t get put into pockets anymore.”

Baker has enjoyed success on stage in pantomime and recently completed a three week run as Aladdin in The Stag Theatre’s production in Seven Oaks. She has not yet received confirmation of a part in the soap.