Plus, new Billy Mitchell Olympic spoilers and on-set with Rachel Bright
We’ll begin our look at EastEnders news with the Daily Star on Sunday’s report that Shona McGarty – who plays Whitney Dean – has been suspended for a month without pay from the soap for poor timekeeping, which apparently prompted complaints from her co-stars.
New executive producer Lorraine Newman hauled Shona in for a telling off last week after several of her co-stars said that her lateness on set had meant they’d had to stay late at work, and had therefore had to abandon their own plans.
An insider revealed, “Shona failed to turn up on time on more than one occasion and was really laid back about why she was late.
“People are understanding when it’s once or even twice but her lateness was becoming a huge problem.
“It regularly held up the filming of vital scenes and angered fellow cast and crew members who were forced to work late because of her…
“Like all soaps, everyone works long, hard days so when things are prolonged because of one person it doesn’t go down well on set.
“There were a lot of unhappy people so Lorraine had no choice but to take action.Shona was read the riot act and apologised for her behaviour.
“Obviously, she’s not happy about what’s happened and was quite upset about it all afterwards.”
An EastEnders spokesman confirmed, “Shona has been suspended for repeatedly being late.”
It hasn’t been revealed how, or if, her character will be written out for the four weeks of her suspension.
In other news, forthcoming episodes are of course going to focus on Billy Mitchell’s trials and tribulations as he tries to get from Walford to Wembley with the Olympic torch…
He is going to face one obstacle after another in the endeavour, and one of them being his struggle to get through the barrier at Walford tube station – much to the amusement of some of the locals.
As he rushes past the likes of Alfie Moon, Max Branning, Masood Ahmed and market trader Winston, they can’t help but laugh at his antics, but of course for Billy, it’s no laughing matter.
An EastEnders insider said, “Billy has to make his own Olympic dash.
“He’d be gutted if he misses the opportunity of carrying the torch.
“He’s looked forward to it for months and hasn’t stopped bragging about how he was the chosen one.
“So when all the lads see him running for it they can’t help but laugh.
“He’d look like a right idiot if he was to miss it.
“And, of course, he’d never live it down with the locals. He’s always had a bit of a reputation for being dopey and is someone who is often the butt of everyone’s jokes.
“So it will take some doing for him to ever live it down if he does miss his big moment.”
We’ll see Billy’s drama a week tomorrow.
Finally today, we have a video clip for you of actress Rachel Bright – who plays Poppy Meadow – talking about life on the Square…
As you’ll see, she talks about her EastEnders mates, her love for arts and crafts and what she finds hardest about playing Poppy!
More EastEnders news soon!
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