EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has revealed that her mother's death caused her to experience 'real guttural grief' while filming the death of Jamie Mitchell on the soap. The 42-year-old actress, who has played Sonia Fowler since 1993, broke down in tears during the emotional scenes, which were filmed just months after her own mother passed away.
Cassidy, speaking on the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, explained that the storyline hit close to home. 'He decided to leave the show, which was really devastating for me because we were really close,' she said of co-star Jack Ryder, who played Jamie. 'The story that was told was Jamie died in hospital and it was Christmas Day. So in that October, after losing mum, I was doing these really heartfelt scenes around a hospital bed sobbing. And I look back and think, that was all real. That was real guttural grief.'
Jamie Mitchell's character was accidentally run over and died from spleen damage in 2002, with his final scenes airing on Christmas Day. The storyline also involved visits from Phil and Billy Mitchell, who apologised for past abuse before Jamie's death.
Meanwhile, Cassidy has faced setbacks in her career after leaving EastEnders. Her Channel 4 consumer series, What's The Big Deal?, is unlikely to return, and her BBC podcast Off The Telly, co-hosted with Joanna Page, has also ended. 'I don't think it went down very well,' Cassidy said of the TV show. 'At the moment there is no talk of it. But I loved it and it was a great experience.'
