(Picture: BBC)
EastEnders star Rita Simon has revealed that she refused to film key scenes around Roxy Mitchell’s death, just in case there was ever a chance that her character could be brought back from the dead.
Roxy, as viewers know, was killed off with sister Ronnie (Samantha Womack) back in 2017 in what became one of the most controversial moves in soap history.
The character drowned in a swimming pool at a hotel on the day of Ronnie’s wedding, with bride Ronnie jumping in to save her, before ultimately drowning herself.
Fans were outraged that both characters were killed off, with many a campaign having been started by viewers to bring the iconic duo back, despite them having technically been killed off.
But while we saw Ronnie’s body on-screen, we didn’t actually see Roxy’s, with actress Rita Simons now revealing that she refused to film such scenes, so that Roxy could potentially make a return one day.
‘I got pulled aside a couple of days before filming the final scene by an exec, who I cannot name for legal reasons, who said to me, ‘There are a lot of people upstairs who don’t agree with this’,’ she told The Sun.
‘So what I was hearing was that people above did not agree.
‘Why they couldn’t help, I don’t know. The politics there was so fraught at the time.
‘And you have to let a producer do what they do and you have to let them find their way.
‘They said: “If you want any chance at ever bringing Roxy back, you have to refuse to die”.
Rita, who is set to stage a comeback on Tuesday (April 28) for a short scene, said that she has ‘sat on this’ information for six years, feeling guilty about being unable to discuss it until now, explaining that she filmed her final shots as though she was ‘holding her breath’.
‘Go back and watch it online and you will see next to nothing of me at all.
‘I also refused to do the coffin scene. I was asked directly to my face and I refused point blank.’
“I didn’t let anyone film me jump in the pool, so no one saw me drown.’
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Rita Simons was as devastated as everyone else when her character was killed off.