00:00appeared on our screen as EastEnders' iconic villain Janine Butcher.
00:03This summer she's returning to the stage in not one but two new productions.
00:07So we're going to talk to her in just a moment.
00:10But let's remind ourselves of one of the most infamous moments in the BBC's EastEnders history.
00:16Because on New Year's Day 2004, Janine Butcher pushed her husband Barry Evans on a cliff.
00:23She did.
00:23A chilling scene that cemented her reputation as one of British TV's ultimate villains.
00:29Fabulous.
00:30You're the same doormat you've always been.
00:33Just like I'm the same heartless cow everybody warned you about.
00:36You love me though.
00:37Oh, you love me though.
00:39You love me though.
00:40Just don't leave.
00:43I know today's love in you.
00:49We'll find it together.
00:51Oh, get off me.
00:55Oh, it's gold.
00:57It's all married.
00:58Can I just say, you have changed a bit.
01:02Well, I don't know.
01:03Got a bit older.
01:05Well, you might have got a bit older.
01:06You don't look a bit older.
01:09Incredible.
01:09And as you sat down you went, that's 22.
01:1322 years ago.
01:14Can you believe that?
01:14The trouble is, once an EastEnders villain, always an EastEnders villain.
01:19Well, I do know that.
01:20That is one thing that is for certain.
01:21Well, I mean, you've got form because the character's been married five times and killed three times to be fair.
01:26One of them was manslaughter, slightly accidental, running over someone.
01:30And some were self-defense.
01:31Okay.
01:32Thank you very much.
01:33Good point taken.
01:34And you are currently in prison.
01:36I think so, yeah.
01:38Yes.
01:39Yes.
01:39So, you're 22.
01:40Well, how many years have you been?
01:42When was it you went to prison?
01:432022, you went to prison.
01:45About three years ago.
01:45Okay.
01:46Well, I do know that she's out in about a year.
01:50You're out in about a year.
01:51Okay.
01:52So, we're out in about a year.
01:54Right.
01:54Thank you for the information.
01:56Yes.
01:56Sounds like Richard knows about the future script, but you're still waiting.
02:01Well, I think you could get out earlier, wouldn't you?
02:03You never know.
02:04We'll have to see.
02:05Could you see her return?
02:07I mean, look, I get asked this question all the time.
02:09I love Janine.
02:10I love playing her.
02:11She's a wonderful character.
02:12I always get such, you know, blessed with such great storylines.
02:16So, who knows?
02:17It's always a home from home.
02:19You've got to get through the parole hearing first.
02:21Yes.
02:22Yes.
02:22Yes.
02:23Oh, a mere technicality.
02:24She finds her way out of these situations.
02:26Well, I think that's the staying power for that character, though.
02:29And you, as a term, did that spectacularly.
02:32Because for a character with such form to sort of, if not redeem them, but to still keep
02:36a presence and be part of the show on and off for so many years, when Janine has done
02:41so much, right?
02:42I think she should have had a proper comeuppance.
02:43Right.
02:44Right.
02:44She should be dead or, you know.
02:45But we love to.
02:46And we know scriptwriters, if they don't want a character and they don't think they're
02:50popular, will kill them off.
02:51They will.
02:52So, there's always a key to that prison door.
02:56But in the meantime, you've decided to fill your time.
02:59I mean, you've done a million other things since in the 22 years.
03:02You haven't been just waiting around.
03:04But you've got not one, but two theatre productions.
03:08And one of them is a very famous one, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.
03:13So, I start that one in a few weeks' time, but I'm currently doing The Hidden Dangers
03:18of Camping, which is new writing, which is always really fun and collaborative.
03:22And that's on at Theatre Windsor Royal.
03:25Theatre Royal Windsor.
03:27Get it right.
03:27And we open next week.
03:29It's a short run, new writing with very sort of rich, complicated women at its core.
03:35It's about a couple that embark on an open marriage.
03:40So, generational trauma, how that impacts the children and the children's children.
03:45And we explore the memory of this camping trip through Casey, who's the central female
03:50character's therapy sessions, and basically the fallout of that camping trip.
03:56But it's got funny moments.
03:58It's, you know, I hope people sort of leave the theatre talking about it.
04:02So, the hidden danger of camping isn't simply losing the tent pegs?
04:06It's not, no.
04:07No.
04:08It's like a more days than that.
04:09I know.
04:10No, it's not.
04:12It's about...
04:13What are these hidden dangers?
04:14So, there's, you know, I think my character particularly has a fondness for tequila.
04:18And she carries a lot of guilt and shame.
04:20And I think it's about when things go unsaid, conversations that don't happen within families,
04:27you know, and the impact that can then have.
04:30I think it sounds like it's, as well as the hidden dangers of camping, it's the very obvious dangers
04:36of having an open marriage.
04:38Yes, yes, yeah, it is.
04:40And, yeah, and just how that affects relationships, really.
04:44And there's other things that happen within the play and a trauma that happened to another
04:48one of my daughters.
04:49It kind of gets brushed under the carpet and my character escapes into tequila.
04:59So, you know, and she's a very loud, big kind of fun character to play, I have to say.
05:05That's at the theatre on Windsor.
05:06Yes.
05:06You're touring Curious Incident.
05:08Yes.
05:08September, right through till next May, all around the country.
05:10Right through till next May, yeah, it's a long one.
05:11It's a long one.
05:12We've started Birmingham.
05:13Have you got two scripts in your head at the same time?
05:15I...
05:17Well, unusually, we have to be off book, which means having no scripts on day one of the
05:21next rehearsal.
05:22So, I am currently trying to work.
05:24I'm going to get this play open and then really knuckle down on Curious, yeah.
05:27Wow.
05:28It's a lot, yes.
05:29But it's...
05:30God, I love what I do.
05:31I love being in the rehearsal room.
05:33It's playful.
05:34While waiting for the EastEnders' return.
05:36Wow.
05:37Well, the skills you've got to be off book with EastEnders because it's such a, you know,
05:41not a grind, but there's so much to learn.
05:44It's interesting.
05:45Yeah, there's so much to learn.
05:47You can, and I think my memory actually is really bad with things in everyday life, and
05:51I think that is because you have to learn, forget, learn, forget, and that is what I
05:55did for so many years in EastEnders.
05:57So, I do find myself with quite a poor memory these days.
06:01Yeah, sorry.
06:02That could also be perimenopause, who knows.
06:04Well, that is also a factor, I know.
06:07But to learn two scripts and to go out there on stage every night, that takes nerves of
06:12steel.
06:13It does.
06:13And all the best with it.
06:15Thank you so much for coming in.
06:17Wow.
06:18The hidden dangers of camping.
06:20Tequila and an open marriage.
06:22Oh, that's the clip for the sport.
06:26Lovely to see you.
06:27Thanks so much.
06:27Still to come.
06:28Well, a nerve-threading, dramatic, chaotic game of football sends England into the quarterfinals
06:33of the World Cup superfan, comedian Maisie Adam, will join us to celebrate their win.
06:40We're asking headteacher as well, Lisa Feeham.
06:42Oh, hello, ladies.
06:43Turned up to school on time.
06:45Well done to those kids.
06:46You're watching Good Morning Britain.
06:49We'll see you in just a moment.
