EastEnders recently welcomed its latest cast member in singer Mica Paris, and it turns out that the BBC One was an instrumental part of her career in a very surprising way.
The star reminisced about when she was first starting out, and made the decision to not use her real name because of how famous Michelle Fowler, played by Susan Tully, was at the time.
"Susan is an amazing actress," Mica told The Sun. "I'm such a fan. My real name is Michelle and she was just so popular back then.
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"I was just about to get signed at that point. And I thought, 'Oh, she's just too popular and my name will be too close to hers'.
"At that point you don't even realise how big the show was. Everybody and Jesus was watching it every night. You'd watch 'Enders and Wogan. And those were your shows, man.
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"You ran home from wherever you were. School, after-hours club, whatever, you ran home for the shows. That was life."
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Mica's character Elle Nixon has a connection to Denise Fox's (Diane Parish) past, something which was briefly touched upon in last night's episode, and will continue to play out in what Paris previously hinted as being one of the most challenging periods of her tenure in the Square.
EastEnders continues Monday (September 28) at 8.05pm on BBC One.
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