{"id":204846,"date":"2025-06-22T10:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T10:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/204846\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T10:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T10:05:13","slug":"eastenders-star-banned-from-knowing-role-and-given-codename-before-joining-soap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/204846\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders star banned from knowing role and given codename before joining soap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actress Alice Haig shares the lengths show bosses went to in order to keep the return of EastEnders icon VIcki Fowler under wraps earlier this year<\/p>\n

07:00, 22 Jun 2025Updated 07:07, 22 Jun 2025<\/p>\n

\"EatsEnders\"New arrival to Albert Square reveals the unusual way show kept her part a surprise<\/p>\n

Joining the Fowler family has been a dream come true for EastEnders<\/a> actress Alice Haig. When she stepped on to Albert Square as the new Vicki \u2013 the love child of teen mum Michelle Fowler and Dirty Den Watts \u2013 she knew she was instantly becoming part of a huge soap legacy.<\/p>\n

Her big arrival in Walford was such a huge event, totally shrouded in secrecy, that her character was given a code name, she tells. Even Alice herself was told only two days before filming who she would be playing. Lifting the lid on the lengths the soap went to to keep her entrance under wraps, Alice says, \u201cI knew I was in it. I knew what the scripts were, I knew who the character was for me. But I didn\u2019t know my name.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: EastEnders fans ‘work out’ Zoe Slater’s ‘return storyline’ \u2013 and it’s bad news for Vicki<\/a>\"AliceAlice Haig joined EastEnders as the fourth actress to play Vicki Fowler(Image: BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a code name. It was Sammy. I didn\u2019t know until about two or three days before I started filming. And then they tell you at a certain point, and then they give you loads of information about it at that point, when you know you\u2019re in and you\u2019re in proper. And then it happened. When I found out, I was like, \u2018This is amazing.\u2019 It couldn\u2019t have been better. I have the best parents, the legacy. It\u2019s so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was announced that Alice had joined the show back in February and she first appeared on screen in April, when she arrived in Walford for the funeral of her uncle Martin (played by James Bye<\/a>). She is now the fourth actress to play Vicki \u2013 the daughter of Michelle (Susan Tully) and Den (Leslie Grantham) \u2013 who was at the centre of a controversial storyline about teen pregnancy<\/a>, with viewers initially kept in the dark about who her dad was.<\/p>\n

\"AliceAlice’s character has become a firm favourite among since her arrival(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

A fan of the BBC<\/a> soap since she was a child, Alice reveals that the part felt like it was meant to be. \u201cI\u2019ve always watched it and I was born in February 1985, so I\u2019m the same age as EastEnders,\u201d she has previously said.<\/p>\n

Vicki is back on the Square after 20 years,<\/a> bringing her new boyfriend Ross (Alex Walkinshaw) and his son Joel (Max Murray) with her. Before that she\u2019d been running a bar in Australia<\/a> with her long-term love Spencer Moon.<\/p>\n

When she arrives in Walford with a new man on her arm, it comes as quite a shock to her sister Sharon (Letitia Dean<\/a>) and Spencer\u2019s brother Alfie (Shane Richie<\/a>) \u2013 who had no idea the couple had split.<\/p>\n

Alice says she still can\u2019t believe she gets to work with her soap idols every day. \u201cI pinch myself all the time on set,\u201d she admits. \u201cBeing around Adam (Woodyatt), and Tish (Letitia Dean). My first scene was with them. Tish is amazing, Adam\u2019s amazing, Steve (McFadden) is amazing. When they\u2019re in the scene we just aired this week, I had to pinch myself when Phil Mitchell was stopping me from going somewhere. I was like, \u2018What the… This is amazing!\u2019<\/p>\n

\"AliceAlice has been relishing her scenes with soap heavyweights like Steve McFadden(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family, they\u2019re really proud. They\u2019re watching it for the first time in ages. We used to watch it as a family and now they\u2019re watching it again. Honestly, it\u2019s the nicest place to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alice comes from an acting family \u2013 her mum Julia Gray acts under the stage name Jane Galloway and her dad is David Haig, 69, an actor and playwright known for his role as Bernard in Four Weddings And A Funeral. He was awarded an MBE for his services to drama. Alongside penning plenty of successful plays, David also starred in Doc Martin, The Thick Of It and Downton Abbey. Most recently he was in Killing Eve<\/a>, in which he played Sandra Oh\u2019s spy colleague Bill, who was killed off by Jodie Comer<\/a>\u2019s character Villanelle.<\/p>\n

\"AliceAlice with parents Julia and David, who are both actors(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

After graduating from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, south London-born Alice, 40, went on to appear in various television and stage productions. She played journalist Sophie in the comedy Rain Dogs<\/a> and a nurse in This Is Going To Hurt. She also secured a role on Disney+ series Andor \u2013 a Star Wars<\/a> spin-off \u2013 before announcing her Walford debut.<\/p>\n

Alice says her part in EastEnders is her biggest role to date \u2013 and she\u2019s loving being part of such a huge show. \u201cIt\u2019s been totally lovely,\u201d she said at the British Soap Awards. \u201cAnybody who\u2019s come up to me in the street has been really nice. It\u2019s all new for me. I did a lot of theatre and television before, but TV was just one episode of a drama or something like that, so it\u2019s very different to this, which is on in everybody\u2019s living rooms every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

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