EastEnders' Stacey Slater (or Stacey Fowler, as she's also known) is one of the soap's most memorable characters, with actress Lacey Turner receiving plenty of applause for her performance ever since she first hit the Square back in 2004.
But Lacey actually auditioned for a completely different role. She initially wanted to play Demi Miller, Mickey Miller's (Joe Swash) sister, who ended up being played by Shana Swash (Joe's real life sister) from 2004 until 2006.
It's something the actress has mentioned before, but in tomorrow night's (September 3) Secrets for the Square, Lacey went into further detail about how heartbroken she was not to get the role... until the show's bosses told her that they had created Stacey specifically for her to play!
Related: 9 EastEnders stars who played more than one role in the soap
"I originally came in for an audition for the Miller family," she reminisced. "I went for an audition with them, and Tony Jordan was there and Julia Crampsie – who is the casting director for EastEnders and many other things. I got down to the last two – it was between me and my cousin.
"I then went home and they rang me and said I hadn't got it. I cried in bed. I went to bed that night and I was crying. But the next day I got a call from Julia who explained that Tony had said 'she's not a Miller, she's a Slater'.
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"They told me they wanted to create a part for me and [asked] did I want to be a Slater?"
Related: EastEnders star Letitia Dean says she "had anxiety" over return to filming
She continued: "It was the best thing ever. I used to work on the market in Borehamwood and I'd see [Kat actress Jessie Wallace] driving in and out. My house would back onto the Square so I could hear everything and see everything – and if I wanted to be anyone, in any family, it was the Slaters.
"For me, it was the best thing ever."
EastEnders will start airing brand new episodes again from Monday (September 7). The final run of Secrets from the Square episodes will conclude this week with a special unseen moments compilation airing on Friday (September 4).
EastEnders returns to BBC One with new episodes on Monday, September 7.
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