WALFORD EXTRA

Alfie and Kat are one of Eastenders’ most-famous love stories, but Shane Richie, who plays Alfie, has revealed that there was a very different romantic interest lined up for his character when he joined the soap back in 2002.

‘They were going to re-create The Graduate agegap love story with Alfie and Peggy!’ explains Shane, 58. ‘I was meant to be Dustin Hoffman... I don’t think that was going to work!

‘Then the writers spotted that me and Jessie [Wallace, AKA Kat] had this chemistry. So Alfie and Kat’s relationship happened purely by accident.’