The actress has played Linda Carter on EastEnders for over a decade, and she’s been involved in some of the soap’s most intense and controversial storylines – but there was one scene she point-blank begged not to do

Kellie Bright, known for her role as Linda Carter on EastEnders, has tackled some of the soap’s most challenging storylines. However, she recently disclosed on the Off the Telly podcast that there was one particular scene she just couldn’t bring herself to do.

Speaking to hosts Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page, Kellie shared her nerves about performing live for the show’s 40th anniversary episode. “When we first got the script, I was supposed to actually take out a coin – because it’s all about Denise making her decision. – I was supposed to then go on and toss the coin, and catch the coin,” she recounted.

The thought of tossing a coin on live television, with the added pressure and sweaty palms from rehearsing, was too much for Kellie. She laughingly told the writers: “Don’t do that to me,” revealing she even had two spare 50p coins in her pocket as a backup.

“I can’t toss a coin for toffee anyway,” she admitted, “and I thought ‘My hands will be sweaty, shaking’, there was just no way.”

Ultimately, Kellie suggested a change to the director, proposing that Denise interrupt Linda before the coin toss could happen. She confessed: “I can’t do that. I can’t do that live. I mean, even if we were recording that, I’d probably have to do it ten times,” reports the Manchester Evening News.

Thankfully bosses changed the scene in the live episode and it seems Denise interrupt Linda before she tosses a coin (Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

EastEnders had its moment of edginess recently when Kellie’s character was scripted to say “tits” on the broadcast. After it aired, Kellie was inundated with messages from flabbergasted fans querying whether the slip-up was accidental.

To quash the rumours, she took to Instagram, sharing a snapshot of the script with her line clearly printed, and wryly noted: “I posted a script that said my line and I said ‘I hate to tell you, but it was definitely in the script’.”

Natalie chimed in with a memory about how Eastenders’ writers aren’t shy to inject some cheeky – yet borderline – wording into the dialogue. Recalling an episode where the Queen Vic faced one of its typical turmoils, Sonia Fowler, who is played by Natalie, went into early labour.

The scene heated up as her friends Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) and Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) find themselves caught in the fray, acting as make-shift midwives. They comically argue over who will be stationed at the “business end” during the escalating childbirth.

Natalie shared that initially, Bianca was meant to utter “It’s only a fanny,” but this was hastily amended to “it’s only a noonie” moments before they kicked off filming.