Gillian Taylforth

"Kathy Mitchell"

Interviewed by Tim Wilson

On what Gillian was doing before she was hired for EastEnders:

"I was working as a secretary for a travel agency. I had been on television quite a few times in various shows, but I always ended up behind a typewriter. I also worked in the BBC photo department for a while, too... I still joke to this day that I only got the job on EastEnders because I slipped in through the back gate."

On the audition process:

"My first audition was the part of Sue Osman, Ali's wife. But [series creators] Julia Smith and Tony Holland had other ideas apparently because they called me back for another audition, and this time it was Kathy. They whipped out a calculator and kept punching in numbers. 'We're trying to work out if you could be old enough to be Ian's Mum,' they said. I said, I can look older. I'll put my hair up. I'll have a few late nights and I PROMISE I'll look old enough to be Ian's Mum.'"

On her parents' reaction to the news she got the part:

"My Mum's face fell and she said, 'But I thought you were going to tell us you'd gotten engaged.' My Dad knew how to get one-liners off as well. When the show had been on awhile, I would come over to watch it with my Mum and Dad. I'd be saying, 'Oooh that's terrible! Look at my mouth! Why did I say the line that way. Look at my face, what was I thing?' And Dad would turn to me and say: 'If you can't sit there quietly, go home and watch it.' Good Old Dad."

On that cool baseball jacket Kathy wore:

"It's still somewhere around the BBC wardrobe department. I'll tell you one thing though. That great leather jacket I wore for along time on the show got nicked. I loved that old thing! I wish I'd nicked that before someone else had the chance. Why couldn't whoever it was have taken that rotten blue woolen bobble that instead?"

On Taylforth's reaction on learning of the Kathy's rape scenes:

"I didn't think it was a great idea at first. That Kathy was being raped for the second time in her life bothered me. And second, I didn't think Wilmott-Brown was a very likely rapist. I loved working with William Boyd, and I thought he played it brilliantly. It was his idea to step up Wilmott-Brown's drinking in order for the rape to make some sense."

On whether Kathy has finally found happiness with Phil Mitchell:

"Oh yeah, It's about time, don't you think? Steve McFadden and I get along great so that's very helpful. When the news came out that Kathy was going to get involved with Adam Woodyatt (Ian) kept teasing him and asking 'Contract up soon, is it?' Kathy does seem to land the Kiss of Death on whoever gets remotely interested in her. Think about it... Eddie got killed. Laurie disappeared. Donna died from an overdose. Pete got run off the road by gangsters... need I go on? But I do think Phil stands a better chance than the others."

On her relationship with Woodyatt:

"He's lovely. Really lovely. Everyone's watched him grow up on this show, like they have with Susan Tully (Michelle) and Letitia Dean (Sharon). One of the most emotional moments in our time together was when Adam told me he was going to be a dad in real life. I was feeling particularly down that day and that was just the news I needed to send me into floods of tears--and I was so happy for him. He said, 'That means you're going to be a granny.' I was so thrilled --it was if my own son was telling me this."

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