Patsy Palmer: from the East End to Eastenders, 30 years as an iconic soap character

perfect .

I mean I feel like it's just , um , a certain type will never really get to do the stuff that other people get to do . We'll get to do EastEnders , which is amazing , and we'll get to do , like , probably , stereotypical roles in other things .

Um , I've gone on to do because I've had a name from EastEnders , not necessarily because if I would have gone for the audition I might have got the role . Do you understand what I mean by that ? Yeah , for sure . So there's still a big stigma and so it's great to to , yeah , talk , talk about it and and give advice .

I went to Anna Scher's , which was a children's theatre in Islington which was for mums and dads that couldn't afford to send their kids to drama school . So she was a huge um hero of mine and she passed away , unfortunately , last year , but she taught every class herself and it was run like a charity .

So she was a really amazing woman and she gave so many of us a chance . You know , without her and , I guess , without charities like yours people like you who are willing to give people a chance it's really difficult still .

It just all sort of happened by accident for me really , but you know , there are no accidents . I do feel like everything is like perfect . So I always yeah , I loved it from the minute I started working in the theatre . I really loved it . I love the environment because it didn't feel as harsh as being at school ,

because I got bullied at school . So for me , you know , they were all singing and dancing on the stage . I didn't do singing and dancing . Anna Scher's was very much predominantly acting and improvisation , which was great for kids like us because we had very creative minds . So it was really good to put those minds into a really creative space .

They'd probably call it adhd now or something whatever . They would give it labels . There'd be a load of labels in that room . But , um , you know , the point is we were very creative children and we needed an outlet and a positive outlet and that's what she gave us .

And being around all of the singing and dancing and I love music it just really made me realize that I just wanted to be in that environment and I just didn't want to be in East London in school getting asked if I wanted to have a fight every lunchtime . It just wasn't really for me . You know , I was really scared .

It's probably not nice for the bullies either . I reckon a lot of these kids are pressurized as well , but I definitely felt safer in the theater , yeah , um , so I just continued it through there and then I got EastEnders , as you know what it's like there . It's never changed . So I've been doing that for 30 years and it's looked exactly the same .

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I was only , I was 21 and they wanted a 16 year old to play Bianca . So I was just with my friend like chatting , messing around and um , and then he said he wanted to see me and we had to do like an improvisation kind of monologue thing and I remember doing that and then I got the job .

But I I just really only wanted a car really then for my um , for my little boy . I was a single mum , so I just wanted a , a car with four doors . Honestly and then my world opened up .

But I think that in any creative industry acting , creative arts , music I think that the the world opens up for young people , you know , because you get to meet so many different people , um , you know , with different jobs .

I mean , I was at EastEnders but I did get to travel , you know , I got paid well , so it gave me resource to be able to do things , to be stable , you know , to buy a home , to have some stability in my life and many more things . I've been very ,

very fortunate . So I think that it really should be an opportunity for any child , any young person , no matter where you're from , what walk of life . If you're really passionate about wanting to be in the creative industry , then I think that you know there should be more doors open really .

now like Patsy Palmer coming over you're right love .

I'm like this is insane and like I know for you it's just like a job , but like you're a big inspiration to be able to see someone like yourself that comes from the same area that I come from , comes from the same type of background , and and have this longevity like it's incredible and I was wondering what it feels like to play such an iconic character .

As you know , we're up very early in the morning , we we work many hours on set , we learn humongous amounts of scripts , so it really does feel like going to work and I and I . But I do feel very fortunate as well where I work because I am part of such a big family .

So I don't really feel like how people expect you to feel about playing the character . Like , I do appreciate her so much more now I've got older and I do feel so amazed that I've created such a strong character .

I just never in a million years would have ever dreamt that I could have done that and that she would have been received the way that she has been . I feel very lucky , you know , and fortunate that people really love her and and really like her .

I think she represents still a lot of people , a lot of women in particular , and also probably men in that situation that are just always fighting for survival Like always , you know and she gets it wrong . But I don't think she really means to . I think she doesn't ever have time to think . I think she's just fighting for survival and I think that's .

I feel like maybe when I started , that sort of was a lot more part of what I knew in my life when I started . But very quickly I didn't have to fight for survival anymore because I had a really good job . So , ironically , being in EastEnders gave me a chance to stop that . But the character still remains .

You know she still has had to do that and has to do that still to this day . Do you know what I mean ? So kind of really weird how people say you know she still has had to do that and has to do that still to this day . Do you know what I mean ?

so yeah kind of really weird how people say you know , I haven't really , but how much of you like your character ? I'm nothing like my character but I do know that feeling . Growing up in the East End where everybody was just on fight or flight , you know , just sort of on survival mode , but not in a bad way , but that's just how it it was .

Growing up in the 70s and 80s , 90s in in East London , you know , and probably parts of West and South London working class environments , everyone's very much in fight or flight

mode . So I think I do get to enjoy playing her in that in that state I do understand it . So I guess it makes it a little bit easier to to play her really . But I do feel blessed . She used to be a lot funnier . I think as she's got older she's probably had more stress .

When I went back there wasn't as much comedy but she was always really funny and I think that's another thing that , coming from a working class background , we're blessed with that humor because , uh , there was a lot of humor growing up where I grew up . Yeah , even though there was a lot of like hard things , there was a lot of humor .

I always think as well , like that's why I say that there should be a lot more doors open and there should have been a lot of humor . I always think as well , like that's why I say that there should be a lot more doors open and there should have been a lot more places that kids could have gone .

Because me and my husband always say that you know a lot of our friends , that we all grew up in the same area , we've known each other our whole lives . But we always talk about people and certain people and and people that we grew up with some are , no , no longer around with us .

They passed away from , you know , drug overdoses or getting into trouble or suicide . But you know , just saying that these people we grew up with were so funny , you know , so quick-witted . They should have been writers , they should have been directors , you know they should have been comedians . They should have had the opportunity .

They could have been rappers or , you know , songwriters , singers . They never had these opportunities and when kids don't have these opportunities they fall into bad , bad things . You know , because also their minds are so super active .

I think that from a very young age I got a lot of knockbacks . So for every 20 auditions I went on , I may have only ever got one or none . You know what I mean ? Going on the tube everywhere all around London . From it , you know , like I'd go from one to the other to the other , just on the tube .

It's amazing how we did it all without a phone , isn't it ? Yeah , it's true , we did . It was incredible , really . What great times you know , and I would just travel everywhere .

I'd have a bit of paper and it would be like this one was at 10 o'clock , this was at one o'clock , that was at three o'clock , you know , and you'd just go everywhere and you'd meet casting directors and you'd have good chats and the the best thing about that , I think now that I don't like now is the self-tapes . I don't like self-tapes .

I don't , um , I can't do it . Yeah , I can't really do it . So I think that I'll miss out a lot because I don't like it . I like to sit down with people and chat with people and work through stuff . I've worked since I was a kid . I've always known that I've wanted to work . I've had to work . I think , being brought up in a working class background .

That's what you get brought up . You leave school . I left school 16 . I didn't have many . I only had drama . I was the first year to do GCSE , so I learned nothing really at school . I just got a drama GCSE and art GCSE and an English and English lit . That was it .

So I couldn't even go to art college because I needed maths for some reason and I was never gonna . I'm discalculus , so I was never gonna have that . So I didn't really have any opportunity really and so I just worked . You , we just knew we were leaving school . I got a job in a life insurance place in Holloway Road . It was awful .

Talk about knowing what you don't want to do . I got many jobs . I've worked always . I used to just go up and down Bethnal Green Road asking everyone for jobs .

I was all right , just like standing chatting to people , being able to sell things like that way . I would never have been able to take orders or do all that . I just couldn't . My mind wasn't , couldn't have like , I couldn't focus on anything like that . Yeah , so I've always worked , so even now I have to go to work . You know , I was very fortunate .

I moved out to the states and I took 10 years off um work . My husband works , so I just did decide that I wanted to be with my little boy , um , through these first years of his life , because I've always worked , worked , worked , worked . So I do feel like you can really burn yourself out .

You have to be careful as well , but I do have that resilience from that and I do like it , and now I'm back to work . I feel like I'm fully back to my like enjoying get up and go , get back to work , you know . So I think it's conditioned in you , isn't it ?

that work ethic and what do you think keeps you like humble and grounded ? Because you're , you obviously do live in LA and we , like we have this sort of image of what LA is like .

I actually live in Malibu , which , weirdly enough , is very grounded because it's quite far out from LA , sort of like living in the country we . I really live in nature , you know . So I do spend a lot of time in nature , walking , you know just so many like much wildlife , birds and butterflies and all this stuff .

It's beautiful , so I do spend a lot of time outside and by the ocean . Um , so I think that just keeps me grounded because , yeah , I'm not sure if I was in LA that I would be there like LA . La do you know what I mean ? There are parts I probably would be , but they would probably be more working class parts of . LA .

To be honest , I don't really know anyone . I'm not saying that I mean . You know it sounds a bit silly what I'm saying , but do you understand what I mean ? I don't understand many parts of LA , so I don't really get . Don't really get it . But Malibu , I get it because it is being in nature . It is the most amazing wildlife .

That was something I didn't have as a kid I grew up in Bethnal Green . So for me , I'm just amazed by that . I really am . You know , it's such a beautiful thing . That's another thing that kids in working class areas don't really get the chance to do . Much is to get into nature and it's so important , you know , especially for the busy creative mind .

It's super important and I meditate a lot . I meditate every day , I try and well , even if I don't get to do it , because even when times get really bad or the world's overwhelming as it is right now , it just gives you tools and I think being an actress helps you to actually be able to do that . So there's lots of little things that keep you going .

Then you know , like a casting director's seen you , you've been seen , so being seen is a great thing . Never , ever , take it personally .

Um , and keep going , because the more you're seen and the more people you meet in the industry , people remember you , you know , and there might always be one day they might just be sitting there having a cup of tea and need to cast someone and might you might come into their head and it could change your life .

You know , because this industry does change lives . It changes lives , families , it changes generations . You know , it's not only the person that's doing it and it can be good or bad , not to say that it's for everyone . Sometimes I've wanted to give up and I'll never act again , and it has hardships , but it's like any job , isn't it ?

You know , things are not always going to come easy , you know . For some people it does and that's amazing , and but most people , there's going to be ups and downs and good and bad , and I think the most important thing is to keep going and treat everyone the same . Never treat someone that's making you a cup of tea different to Mary J Blige .

So we really really , really really appreciate your time .

You know that person making your tea on set one day could go on to be the biggest film producer in the world . You never know . Absolutely , thank you thank you so much .