ALBERT SQUARE & ME

• 52 exclusive interviews with
past & present cast members
• 30 more actor interviews
available for new UK edition
Behind-the-scenes at the long-running serial with Barbara Windsor, Steve
McFadden, June Brown, John Altman, Sid Owen, Patsy Palmer, Pam St. Clement,
Perry Fenwick, Natalie Cassidy, James Alexandrou, Derek Martin, Laila Morse,
Danniella Westbrook, John Bardon, Wendy Richard, Susan Tully, Todd Carty,
Leslie Grantham, Anita Dobson, Gillian Taylforth, Michelle Collins, Martin Kemp,
Gretchen Franklin, Nick Berry, Lucy Speed, Martine McCutcheon, Michael
Greco, et. al.
‘Albert Square & Me: The Actors of EastEnders’ celebrates the craft of acting. It
explains how these actors ended up on this immensely popular show, what they
did before they were cast there, and what they have done since on U.K. telly,
stage and screen.

Introduction ..................................................................................................................... xi
Foreword to the Den & Angie Years by Leonard Fenton (Dr. Legg) ..................................1
Foreword to Th e Mitchell Era By Deepak Verma (Sanjay Kapoor) .....................................3
List of Interviews:
Th e Den & Angie Years
June Brown (Dot Cotton) ........................................................................................................5
John Altman (Nick Cotton) .....................................................................................................8
Leslie Grantham (Dennis Watts) ............................................................................................10
Anita Dobson (Angie Watts) ..................................................................................................16
Anna Wing (Lou Beale) ..........................................................................................................22
Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) ............................................................................................24
Bill Treacher (Arthur Fowler) ..................................................................................................25
Susan Tully (Michelle Fowler) ................................................................................................28
Gillian Taylforth (Kathy Mitchell) ..........................................................................................32
Todd Carty (Mark Fowler) .....................................................................................................36
Gretchen Franklin (Ethel Skinner) .........................................................................................38
Leonard Fenton (Dr. Legg) .....................................................................................................43
Ross Davidson (Andy O’Brien) ..............................................................................................46
Judith Jacob (Carmel Jackson) ................................................................................................48
Nejdet Salih (Ali Osman) .......................................................................................................50
Nick Berry (Simon Wicks) .....................................................................................................53
Michelle Collins (Cindy Beale) ...............................................................................................55
Tom Watt (Lofty Holloway) ...................................................................................................57
Michael Cashman (Colin Russell) ..........................................................................................61
Pam St. Clement (Pat Butcher, later Evans) ............................................................................67
Th e Mitchell Era
Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell) ..........................................................................................83
Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell) .............................................................................................90
Danniella Westbrook (Sam Mitchell) .....................................................................................93
Kim Medcalf (Sam Mitchell) ..................................................................................................98
Sid Owen (Ricky Butcher) ...................................................................................................104
Patsy Palmer (Bianca Jackson) ..............................................................................................109
Lindsey Coulson (Carol Jackson) .........................................................................................112
Natalie Cassidy (Sonia Jackson) ............................................................................................114
Howard Antony (Alan Jackson) ............................................................................................119
Martine McCutcheon (Tiff any Raymond Mitchell)..............................................................123
Andrew Lynford (Simon Raymond) .....................................................................................127
Deepak Verma (Sanjay Kapoor) ............................................................................................130
Paul Bradley (Nigel Bates) ....................................................................................................133
Lucy Speed (Natalie Evans) ..................................................................................................136
Shaun Williamson (Barry Evans) ..........................................................................................143
Tony Caunter (Roy Evans) ...................................................................................................148
Paul Nicholls (Joe Wicks) .....................................................................................................152
Daniela Denby-Ashe (Sarah Hills) ........................................................................................156
Nadia Sawalha (Annie Palmer) .............................................................................................161
Michael Greco (Beppe di Marco) .........................................................................................163
Leila Birch (Teresa di Marco) ...............................................................................................165
Russell Floyd (Michael Rose) ................................................................................................171
Perry Fenwick (Billy Mitchell) ..............................................................................................174
Martin Kemp (Steve Owen) .................................................................................................177
Sylvester Williams (Mick McFarlane) ...................................................................................180
Hannah Waterman (Laura Beale) .........................................................................................182
Nick Bailey (Dr. Anthony Trueman) ....................................................................................187
James Alexandrou (Martin Fowler) .......................................................................................194
Ian Lavender (Derek Harkinson) ..........................................................................................197
John Bardon (Jim Branning) ................................................................................................199
Laila Morse (Big Mo Harris) ................................................................................................204
Derek Martin (Charlie Slater)...............................................................................................206
Epilogue........................................................................................................................211

Larry Jaffee is a media professional with more than a quarter century of journalism experience. His career highlights include regularly contributing articles to The New York Times at the age of 23, published in Rolling Stone at 24 and editing the prestigious resort newspaper Fire Island News at 25. Since then, Jaffee has run various magazines, conferences and websites in the entertainment and media industry, including MediaCentral.com, Medialine and Promo. He has taught journalism at Pennsylvania State University (MA, 1986) and Hofstra University (BA, 1980). Since 1993 he has published and edited continuously the Walford Gazette (http://www.wgazette.com), a quarterly newspaper published with permission from the BBC, is the world's only publication dedicated to EastEnders. Each 16-page issue provides behind-the-scenes information about the series. While the Walford Gazette has been a labour of love, Jaffee ranks the newspaper and its offshoot books, 'Albert Square & Me: The Actors of EastEnders' and 'Walford State of Mind', among his most impressive accomplishments. He lives in New York, and may be reached at lsjaffee@gmail.com