FRANKIE KILLS NANCY?

Rose Ayling-Ellis on the horrifying accident that leaves her character’s half-sister fighting for her life in EastEnders

The Carters are plunged into a nightmare this week in EastEnders when Nancy’s left clinging to life after being knocked down — by her half-sister Frankie and drunk Zack. To make it worse, Zack pressures Frankie into claiming they found Nancy unconscious in the street, and the pair are left praying Nancy won’t remember what happened.

But with Mick and Linda fearing Nancy might die, the guilt of what Frankie’s putting her new family through leaves her in turmoil.

Rose Ayling-Ellis, who plays her, says, ‘Frankie is stuck. She’s lost the life she had before she came to Walford and her mother’s in jail. Telling the truth could risk losing what she has with the Carters but lying will do the same, if they ever find out, so she’s torn and worried. The guilt will become too much to bear.’

It’s Mick who arranges for Zack to give Frankie a driving lesson, and they drive to the pub, where Zack gets tipsy. Frankie’s not used to driving in the dark and slams into Nancy.

‘Frankie listens to Zack because he seems calm and controlled,’ says Rose, 26, who in May last year became EastEnders’ first deaf actress. ‘He takes charge, so she does what he says, despite how she feels.’

When a distraught Mick and Linda arrive at A&E to find their daughter unconscious, Zack reminds Frankie they could go to prison if the truth comes out.

‘Frankie’s too honest, so the guilt is too much,’ Rose reveals. ‘She knows how much it hurts to be lied to.’

Frankie’s tried hard to bond with the Carter clan, who have struggled sometimes to comprehend her deafness. ‘Frankie can’t hear them chatting, so she feels left out,’ says Rose.

However, Frankie doesn’t realise Mick and Linda are actually hiding something — that Max is the father of Linda’s baby.

‘Frankie knows something’s going on,’ says Rose.

It’s storylines like this, which help educate, that make Rose proud to be a prominent deaf actress. ‘Having a compelling storyline that doesn’t solely focus on being deaf helps show audiences deaf people have full lives that don’t revolve around deafness. Frankie’s deaf identity may teach the audience things they didn’t know or hadn’t thought about before.’