SHE is the ultimate screen queen who has played a regular character on every major British soap.
Debbie Arnold has starred in Coronation Street twice, played the original member of EastEnders’ Branning clan, a con-woman in Emmerdale and even had a stint on Hollyoaks.
The Sunderland-born star, now in her 60s, started off as an impressionist before bagging her first soapland job as Sylvia Hicks in Corrie back in 1981.
Debbie claims bombarding a producer with poems led to her getting her first audition, and was told: “If I give you the part will you please never write me another poem ever again?”
From there she ticked off the rest of the soaps – including appearing in both EastEnders and Hollyoaks at the same time in 1995 – over a 30 year window.
While she loved every minute, Debbie says her worst experience was on Hollyoaks – where she claims she was so cold filming a scene her lips went blue!
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Here Debbie reveals behind-the-scenes secrets from the nation’s favourite soaps – and the surprising differences between them.
Most boring scenes to film
Contrary to how it looks on screen, Debbie says filming weddings and parties are “the most awful and boring” to do because they “go on forever”.
She tells it's worse if you are not featured but you have to be in the scene, adding: "You can imagine it takes forever and of course, the booze isn’t real.
“When we filmed my wedding in EastEnders, when I played April Branning, that went on for nearly two days. Filming soaps can be very strange.”
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Party atmosphere
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