Hot on the promo tour for her new book, Gold Dust, Lacey Turner is spilling lots of tea from her time on EastEnders.
While the book was finally released yesterday, this week has been a good one for juicy stories from it.
Looking back to her early days on the show, she reminisced on a particular time that she and former on-screen bestie, Louisa Lytton, were handed a telling off.
‘Louisa Lytton and I were really mischievous back in the day,’ Lacey explained.
‘On one particular day of filming, we’d had enough, when you work on a soap, it’s a relentless schedule and we were so exhausted that we ended up with the giggles and couldn’t stop.
‘We were sent to the production manager’s office for wasting time, only when we got there, during the very serious telling off, Louisa and I kept poking each other in the leg because behind the production manager on the wall was a picture of the two of us dressed up as Peggy and Pat from a Heat photoshoot!’
‘I don’t know how we held it together, we were crying with laughter as soon as we left the room,’ she told Heat Magazine.
She also told the magazine the story of her experience with the ghost of former co-star, Wendy Richard.
‘Back in the day, it was always me, Wendy and Laila [Morse], who’d go for a cigarette together.
‘One day, after Wendy had passed away, I was standing by the back door debating whether to have a cigarette break when suddenly I felt a great big whack on my bum, I turned and laughed, thinking it was a runner, but there wasn’t a soul there.
‘It was only Barbara [Windsor] in that day, but she was down the other end, I was standing in the studio where the Fowlers would film, and I’m convinced it was Wendy telling me to go for a cigarette like she used to.’
Lacey added that Laila still reckons that it’s ‘got to have been Wendy’ to this day, while confirming that she’ll: ‘never forget it.’
Louisa played Ruby Allen, the sweet and innocent daughter of ruthless gang lord, Johnny (Billy Murray) and soon found a fiercely protective best friend in Stacey, though their relationship eventually fractured when Stacey’s ruthless brother Sean (Rob Kazinsky) began romancing her to get his hands on the huge wealth she’d come into upon her dad’s imprisonment.
When Ruby discovered the truth, she fled Walford, still in possession of her money, but with a broken heart.
Ruby returned 12 years later and although fans were delighted when her friendship with Stacey was fixed, they were equally horrified when she was soon raped by two men after a night out during a huge storyline on sexual consent.
Stacey acted as her rock, even confessing to her own rape at the hands of Archie Mitchell (Larry Lamb) years earlier, and stood by Ruby’s side as she bravely faced her attackers in court, with them ultimately being convicted.
It wasn’t to last, though, as soon enough, Ruby found herself in a relationship with Stacey’s ex-husband, Martin Fowler (James Bye), and the two friends fell into a vicious feud.
When Ruby miscarried her baby, she falsely accused Stacey of pushing her down the stairs and causing it after a fierce confrontation, later orchestrating Stacey’s arrest and imprisonment, before she again fled the Square when her lies were uncovered.
Her latest return in 2024 saw her re-emerge with Martin’s son, Roman, and the love triangle kicked off all over again, up until Martin was killed during the soap’s 40th anniversary episodes.
Both wracked with grief, they continued to feud over his funeral service, and when Stacey’s daughter, Lily Slater (Lillia Turner), set Martin’s fruit stall alight in an attempt to frame Ruby, the two had a final, ferocious confrontation.
Afterward, Ruby packed her bags and again left the Square, drawing a line under their bitter feud. For now, anyway…