Annette Badland, a former EastEnder, has disclosed that she had to contact the police when some fans threatened to kill her because of her villainous persona.
From 2014 until 2017, Annette portrayed the antagonist Aunt Babe Smith, a long-standing member of the Carter family, on the BBC serial opera.
Babe’s stories throughout her time in Walford included being revealed as a baby farmer, pressuring Abi Branning (Lorna Fitzgerald) to fabricate a pregnancy, and trying to rob the Queen Vic after abandoning her sister Sylvie Carter (Linda Marlowe) to perish.
But because of the sinister schemes, Annette started getting threatening messages, which prompted EastEnders’ Elstree studios to increase security.
“It’s always good to place villains, though it has its consequences in a soap opera because I did get death threats at the end,” she told the Daily Star.
The fact that people are unable to distinguish between you and your character and are unaware that you are acting is really unsettling. After a month or so, it went away, but the police and security at the Beeb were involved and said, “Don’t tell anyone where you’re going, don’t go out too much, don’t do this, don’t do that.”
“It was a little frightening at first, but it went away. They were able to track down some of it, but it was [on] public computers, so they couldn’t get anywhere specific,” Annette continued.
Since leaving EastEnders, Anne has starred in Ted Lasso, Plebs, Big Boys, and Midsomer Murders, among other programs.
Before making a brief appearance as a pawn shop employee in the second season of ITV’s DI Ray, she most recently appeared in the third season of Netflix’s LGBTQ+ coming-of-age series Heartstopper.
Annette hasn’t ruled out playing Aunt Babe again, though, who was last seen insulting The Vic when her family disowned her.
You never know, but I’d go for a plot or something. I’m not sure [whether] I’d commit for an unlimited amount of time. “It depends on what they think of,” she replied.
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