EASTENDERS’
EXCLUSIVE
The breakdown of a long relationship can often lead to domestic drama to rival any soap opera. But not for Eastenders legend Lucy Benjamin. Her
17-year marriage to Richard
Taggart ended last year – but the 53-year-old says the split was completely amicable.
While her character, Lisa
Fowler, famously gunned down lover Phil Mitchell in one of the BBC soap’s most-watched storylines, Lucy and Richard are still close pals.
The star, who has two daughters – Bessie, 17, and Rosie, 13 – with Richard, says: “I’m still great friends with Rich and we go out together. It’s brilliant.
“We’ll be a team for ever. We’ve got kids together, so that will always be. But it’s on to the next chapter, really, and we’ll see what that brings.”
And Lucy says she is still learning about life and acting.
She laughs: “I can be a pain in the ass but I’m comfortable with being that sometimes! I don’t have a problem being told I’ve done something wrong – something my kids often do!”
Lucy plays pushy mum Elaine Reynolds in a new film, Look To The Light, opposite screen husband Martin, played by former Holby City and Corrie star Mark Moraghan.
The storyline centres around their son Eddie (Charlie Goddard) and his relationship with his girlfriend Lauren (Lily Blunsom-washbrook).
Eddie’s obsession with becoming a reality TV star ends in tragedy when he finds overnight fame on a fictitious reality show called Love on the Rocks.
But Lucy says her own experience of being a mum couldn’t be more different to that of wealthy Elaine, who showers her son with gifts but never asks him about his well-being.
She has always been careful not to spoil her daughters, saying: “I make them appreciate the value of money because I think it’s important that things aren’t handed to kids on a plate.”
Lucy won The X Factor:
Battle of the Stars in 2006 and, three years later, was the first to be eliminated from I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
But unlike Eddie, she had already earned her stripes as an actor and never saw reality TV as a way of finding fame.
She says: “‘I was treated very well [on reality shows]. I had to have psych interviews, so there was a duty of care, but I feel this is an important story to tell, as a mother with two teenage daughters.
“It does seem to be a bit of a thing, where kids want to be famous for the sake of it, without any sort of back-up.
“As an actor, I think it’s important not to put all your eggs in one basket like that. Fortunately, my kids have seen me work over the years but they’ve also seen me unemployed.
“They’ve seen the struggles with it but they’ve also seen me work damn hard. The film is saying, ‘just be mindful of this route’.”
Lucy went to school in Sandhurst,
Berkshire, where her drama teacher first spotted her potential.
Following her advice, her parents enrolled her in Redroofs Theatre School, in nearby Maidenhead.
They split up at around the time Lucy, aged 12, landed her first acting gig playing a younger version of the character Nyssa in Doctor Who in 1983. Determined to follow her acting dream, Lucy made the tough decision to live near her acting school with a family friend, while her mum and dad moved to separate cities.
She admits: “You get personal knocks that make you strong but my career was always a real safety net for me.
“There was a determination within me to make that work. My mum was