EastEnders spoilers follow.
Jaime Winstone has teased dark Mitchell family secrets will be revealed in EastEnders' flashback episode.
Winstone plays a younger version of Peggy Mitchell in a special episode flashing back to 1979, where the Mitchells were being torn apart by a feud between Phil and his father Eric.
Peggy is trapped in the middle of this family, as she must decide whether saving her marriage to abusive Eric is worth destroying the rest of the family.
Speaking ahead of these scenes airing, Winstone — who previously played Dame Barbara Windsor in a BBC biopic — promised dark Mitchell family secrets will be unearthed.
"With this episode, you're going to see some of your most loved characters – Phil and Grant, and also being introduced to Eric," she told Digital Spy and other media. "Essentially, it's about a family who are being held together, and the cracks that are starting to show, and the boys who are growing up – the boys who are becoming men before Peggy's eyes.
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"It's a turbulent episode. It's quick. There's a lot of stuff that goes down. There are highs and lows. There are soft moments. But it's really set up why the characters are like they are now, and why some families are broken, and certain choices that were made that really shouldn't have been.
"There's a moment, and ultimately, it's about Phil and who he is today, and why, and what goes down. That's not giving you a lot at all, I'm really sorry. It's this sort of moment that Peggy Mitchell becomes the Peggy Mitchell that we know."
The actress also expressed hopes that this flashback episode won't be the last we see of the younger Peggy Mitchell on screens.
"In terms of doing something like this, I really looked into it, and thought, 'God, it's such an opportunity'," she said. "For one, I was so blown away by the parallels in this script with Margaret Thatcher on the telly, and these politicians speaking to the working class, and absolutely not having a clue how these people live, and how they are surviving, and how cold they are, and what are they going to eat that evening?
"The parallels to that, to now, are terrifying. And I was just like, 'Wow, this is a long time ago. We're pretty much facing the same problems.' The parallels between that were really enticing. I was just kind of like, 'That's really interesting, and quite scary'.
"But we're also having what we watch on telly, and what we're fed, you know? I think at this time, right now, we really need, as an audience, to be fed some nostalgia, and to understand what our history is. And if that is through drama, and we tell real stories through drama – especially with the bullshit politics that goes on. That ultimately affects the working class.
"I just suddenly thought, 'God, there's not one working-class drama out there. We've got Downton Abbey, which is not a working-class drama, and we've got Bridgerton. In Downton, you've got the status thing…
"But actually, these are the salt and pepper of our society. I was really intrigued to think: why don't we have it? Do we like to escape and watch people with big dresses at lavish parties? Why aren't we fed these true stories, to learn about our history through drama more? So to answer your question: I would definitely be interested in doing something, a period piece, of this calibre, and representing a real London."
The flashback scenes air on Monday, September 5.
EastEnders airs on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer.
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