“I haven’t stopped smiling since I came back!”
As Kat makes a shock return to Walford, Jessie Wallace is all systems go…
Kat Moon has never been a woman to do things by halves – but practically crashing her own funeral is an impressive feat, even for her! And as her devastated loved ones gather to do right by Kat this week, the last thing they expect is to hear her famous stilettos clacking back into the Queen Vic.
The most terrifying apparitions have nothing on a very much alive Kat when she stuns the locals with her unexpected appearance – but as we join Jessie Wallace for the low-down on her iconic alter ego’s hotly anticipated return, she admits it’s a story she feared might never happen…
“The cleavage is out, the red lips are on, and the leopard print is back!” grins the star, having just finished filming her first scene of the day. “But for a while, I did worry about whether we’d see Kat again. The character we saw in Redwater felt a million miles away from Kat Slater – the way she dressed and everything – and when I found out there wouldn’t be a second series of that, I thought, ‘Where do we go from here?’.
“But luckily [Eastenders creative director] John Yorke has brought Kat back, so I said to him, ‘Please let her be fullwhack Kat!’. And she definitely is!”
Jessie is delighted to have Kat firing on all cylinders again – but while she’s happy to confirm that it’s business as usual as far as Kat’s wardrobe choices are concerned, her lips are sealed as to what’s brought the much-missed character back to Albert Square.
“I can’t say anything – but I want to!” teases Jessie. “All I can tell you is that Kat doesn’t know she’s supposed to be dead. She turns up in a cab and finds a leaflet with her face on it – that picture made me laugh when I saw it, because I never realised just how orange Kat is! But once Kat sees what’s going on in the Vic, she has to deal with it…”
When we last laid eyes on Kat, she was still in Redwater – apparently drowned after being thrown out of a boat, while unaware that her hubby Alfie was in hospital undergoing surgery on his brain tumour. Viewers were left hanging as to whether either of them would survive – particularly so when the series failed to be recommissioned.
“I wasn’t disappointed that Redwater didn’t get a second series,” confesses Jessie. “I really enjoyed making it, though. It was lovely being in Ireland, it’s such a beautiful place. I got to see a lot of my family over there, I spent a lot of time with Shane [Richie, aka Alfie], and the whole cast was great – I loved it. But it did feel odd taking a character I’ve played for so long into a completely different environment. So when it ended, I just wanted to come back to Eastenders!
“I did have this fear, though, that I’d be watching the show one day and Stacey would pick up the phone and go, ‘Oh, Kat’s dead…’. I always had that hanging over me. So I’m very lucky – I haven’t stopped smiling since I came back.”
Since Kat returns to Walford alone, Alfie’s fate is yet to be revealed. And although it remains to be seen how
Kat feels about her husband not being around, Jessie has been missing her former co-star and partner-in-crime…
“It’s very strange to be back without Shane,” she muses. “It’s always been
Kat and Alfie, and Shane and I have worked together so much over the years, and we have a strong bond. He’s like my best friend and my brother, and we bounce off each other – so I do miss him. It’d be great if Alfie came back, but for the moment Kat is enjoying running around with Stacey and Mo.”
Despite Shane’s absence, Jessie needed little persuading to return to the show she first joined almost two decades ago. Kat and Alfie went to Spain when they last left in 2016, before the search for Kat’s long-lost son took them to Ireland. As far as Jessie is concerned, though, Walford is where Kat needs to be.
“Kat belongs in Albert Square,” insists the actress, who is mum to daughter Tallulah, 13. “And like I said, for me it does feel like I’m home again. I’ve literally been on the road for the past two years – touring with theatre and travelling to Ireland – so it’s nice being 20 minutes up the road and sleeping in my own bed every night. I just love it, and I couldn’t wait to be back.
“I’m not taking it for granted, though. I’m always early and I don’t moan. Well, I try not to, anyway!
I never used to be like that…”
When the Slater family first arrived at the start of the millennium, they weren’t an instant hit with viewers
– but that soon changed, and the bolshie brood rapidly joined the ranks of legendary Walford clans. So Jessie hasn’t forgotten just how dramatically Eastenders changed her life as a result.
“I had no idea that Kat would become such an iconic character,” explains the star. “It was literally overnight that we were catapulted to fame, and I couldn’t deal with it – it was really daunting. I didn’t expect it. When you’re here you’re in a bubble, it’s like a big family. Yet when you’re out and about, it all seems mad. It took a while to get used to, but now it’s part and parcel, and you almost end up embracing it.”
When Jessie returned to the Eastenders set earlier this year, those initial nerves were back – although now she feels as if she’s never been away.
“I was so nervous when I first came back – I was shaking!” she reveals. “Luckily I was with Laila Morse
“Kat belongs in Albert Square – it feels like I’m home again!”
[Mo] and Gillian Wright [Jean]. We came in as the three of us, so that softened the blow. And as soon as I’d finished my first scene, I was up and running. It was easy to slip into Kat’s character again – and when I put her leopard skin boots on, that was it. I’d really missed her, so it was great.” Although few of the original Slater family remain on the Square, Kat also takes little time to settle back into Walford’s daily grind. And Jessie has been embracing the opportunity for her alter ego to interact with new and different characters. “Kat moves into Stacey’s – it’s a great household with Whitney and Tiffany there,” enthuses the actress. “There’s all the usual hustle and bustle, laughing and arguing
– it’s just great. There’s a lot of banter. We were all filming in the kitchen together the other day, and I really enjoyed it. And the relationship Kat has with her nan Mo hasn’t changed – they’ll bark something horrible at each other, then just carry on as normal.
“I’ve already done some scenes with Tamzin Outhwaite [who plays Mel], and that’s been great because Kat and Mel were rivals in the past. But we’re all grown up now! I would love for Kat to clash with Karen Taylor, too.”
While Jessie has had strict instructions to keep Kat’s upcoming escapades under wraps, we can tell that the future’s bright by the grin on her face. Our impression is that Kat potentially kicking off in the Queen Vic this week could be just a taste of the treats still to come…
“Kat’s fun side is definitely back!” promises Jessie. “She has loads of funny stuff coming up. People have already been really brilliant on Twitter – I’ve got a great fan base. They’ve reminded me of some of the one-liners Kat used to come out with that I’d forgotten. ‘Coq au vin? I thought that was sex in a lorry!’ was one. I love all of those.
“When I got her new scripts in, I was just screaming with laughter,” continues the star. “There’s so much that I could tell you if I was allowed – it’s just very exciting!”