EastEnders star Harriet Thorpe has heaped praise on her soap colleagues ahead of a huge week for her character Elaine Peacock.

The stage and screen veteran took over the role of Linda Carter’s (Kellie Bright) mum from Maria Freidman last year, as Elaine was re-introduced as the new co-landlady of The Queen Vic.

Since joining the soap, Harriet’s character has navigated a number of challenges after her partner George Knight (Colin Salmon)’s ex-wife Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) returned from the dead.

Next week, Elaine and George prepare to tie the knot in a big Walford wedding, and ahead of the key scenes, the actress hailed the ‘extraordinary’ team around her.

She told Metro: ‘The writing is so extraordinary at the moment, the layers. How those storyline producers work is beyond me. They must need a lot of mental health support because the storylines for all the characters are supreme and so clever and so gripping, and how they intertwine with other characters and moments through the Square is so brilliant.

‘The storylines are absolutely captivating and [Halloween] week has been extraordinary, with Nish and all of that. It’s been brilliant. I salute them.

‘Without them we’re nothing.’

She continued: ‘Chris Clenshaw [the soap’s outgoing executive producer] is extraordinary and we all have character meetings and we all bring other thoughts and ideas about the character.

‘[Elaine] has gone way beyond what I could have dreamed of. The back-stories, new bits of information, the revelatory moments give you a reason you can go, “I get why that person’s like that now.”

‘You don’t get that chance often, to have all those layers endlessly gifted to you. It’s been an absolute honour and joy to play.’

Harriet also reflected on how Elaine has ‘blossomed’ since her reintroduction. 

She recalled: ‘You see her at the beginning, “I hope the champagne’s on ice” – all that was the beginning. And then it’s “Point your finger at me like that again and I’ll hand them back to you in a sandwich.” I have wonderful lines like that that writers are now writing for me because she’s funny but she’s fearless. 

‘As we move on I’m getting more and more layers of her wit, her wisdom, her worries, and that journey is never-ending.’ 

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One and from 6am on iPlayer.