Gemma Quade talks to EastEnders actress Cheryl Fergison about her tragi-comic character Heather Trott who is planning to marry Minty on Thursday

THIS time last year Cheryl Fergison was like any other EastEnders fan, looking forward to settling down on the sofa with a nice cup of tea to catch up with the latest goings on in Albert Square. But then the actress, who had previously only had bit parts in shows like Casualty and Bad Girls, landed her dream role. Since June 2007 she's been playing Heather Trott and still gushes when she remembers the first time she walked into the Queen Vic.

"It was the most amazing thing, a pinching myself moment," she says. "I've watched EastEnders since day one, and now I'm in it. On my first day I went out into the Square in my lunch hour and sat on Arthur's bench. I had a little chat with my mum, who has passed away, and I said You would have been so proud'. She would have been - she was an avid EastEnders fan. I said I know you're looking down. This is the best day'."

While at first Fergison didn't have any huge storylines to sink her teeth into, in recent weeks that has all changed, thanks to a scam her character Heather and fiance' Minty are pulling. Minty and his ex, Hazel, originally entered a magazine wedding competition, but when she pulled out and did a runner from Walford, Heather stepped into her shoes. She hoped the money would go some way to persuading Garry, the object of her affections, she was the woman of his dreams.

"She thought that if Garry didn't want her the way she is, she'd get him by having some sort of plastic surgery done, she was going to use her money for that," the 43-year old actress explains.

As the hapless pair decide to go ahead with the fake wedding anyway, just to make themselves a bit of cash, Heather begins to develop feelings for her bridegroom-to-be.

"Minty has become Heather's hero, and she's fallen hook line and sinker for him," says Fergison.

"He's helped her stand up to her mum, and they have a lot of things in common with each other."

After a hen night Heather finally comes clean to her best mate, Shirley, about her love for Minty.

"She says she can't marry him if he doesn't know that she loves him, so they go looking for him, without much success," Fergison explains.

"The next morning, the day of the wedding, she runs around the Square trying to find Minty, dressed in her nightie and face pack, and then she receives a knife to the heart because Hazel reappears."

Whether Minty ends up marrying Heather or Hazel is a closelyguarded secret that Fergison's not giving away, but she says the last few weeks of filming have been thoroughly enjoyable hard work.

"It's been a real rollercoaster of emotions," she says. "I was laughing and in my most happy element, and then the next minute I would be in tears.

"You can go through your whole career and not do as much as you would do in six months of a soap."

Life has certainly changed for Fergison since becoming a Walford regular. Getting recognised is now a daily occurrence, something both Fergison and her family have had to get used to.

"I have a son who is eight and I'm married. We live on a council estate and we haven't moved or anything, because we've really tried as best we can to keep things normal," she says. "However if we go on a family day out, after about an hour people tend to start coming up.

"When I go to Asda now, it takes me about two and a half hours to get round, so I leave my freezer bit until last. I learnt that the first time I went shopping when I was in EastEnders because it all defrosted."

Not that she's complaining.

Fergison says that the reaction she gets from viewers is generally nice because people have a lot of sympathy for Heather.

"She's a real tragi-comic character, and everybody wants to see her live happily ever after," she laughs. "When people come up to me on the street they want to cuddle me or they want to pair me off with their uncles.

"I think people also like the fact she's normal and we haven't seen that for a long time in soaps. It's great because you've got Hollyoaks, full of lovely looking ladies, tiny blondes, and all the different aged characters in Corrie, but people come up to me and say It's really nice to have a real woman on telly."' Heather is often the butt of sizeist' jokes and hurtful remarks, but Fergison insists that she doesn't find that offensive but a realistic portrayal of how life is.

"It's about taking away what Heather looks like, taking away the layers and finding out what she is like underneath and what qualities she has. I think that's what EastEnders is doing gradually, and that's a good thing."

* It's Heather and Minty's wedding day in BBC1's EastEnders, Thursday, 7.30pm

9:57am Thursday 17th April 2008

Print

Email this