Oh, Ricky! East End Patsy’s gone way out West
SHE
played one of the most iconic characters in British soap history.
Everyone remembers Bianca Jackson in East-Enders – a Cockney with a sharp tongue and a personality as fiery as her red hair.
She was played brilliantly by Patsy Palmer for 12 years over two spells between 1993 and 2014.
And now Patsy lives here in California in the lovely city of Malibu, and I spoke to her as part of a series of interviews I’m doing with UK stars who have moved out here.
I did a panto, back in the day, with Patsy so I know her well. She still calls me Buttons and I call her Cinders!
“It was my son Fenton who wanted to come here,” Patsy told me. “He said ‘Mum, my face doesn’t belong in Harpenden’. “I wish I felt the same way about my face! “My dad lived here as a kid and I didn’t have the best experience as a little girl. I never really wanted to come here back then.
“But I wanted to go somewhere – my kids are outdoor types and sporty, but it seemed to be raining constantly at home.
“I was filming East-Enders and it was freezing. I thought, ‘I’m not getting any younger!’ “Then I had a lightbulb moment.” Now Patsy is living an idyllic beach life with her husband and kids, but she’s a businesswoman, too.
She admitted she did struggle to adapt to the entertainment industry with a particularly difficult showbiz agent here in California – and that led to her taking a break from acting.
“I didn’t get on with him at first,” she told me. “They’re very harsh here – you know what it’s like, it’s a lot harder than in the UK!
“I wondered if I should just give it up – so I did!”
I wondered what Patsy missed from home.
“I thought I missed a lot of silly things, like Waitrose, but there’s lots of amazing supermarkets here.
“But I do miss John Lewis. And I miss walking around – everywhere is so vast you have to drive. When I get home I like to walk around – but everything looks squashed now!
“I’m very proud of Londoners now. When you see what’s going on in the city you feel very helpless, but I’ll always be proud.
“I can’t complain, this is an amazing life.”