Babe Smith was the Walford villain we all loved to hate… But, for some, Annette Badland’s portrayal of ‘Aunt Babe’ was too convincing!
In fact, they were unable to separate fact from fiction it seems.
Actress Annette has revealed that she received threats for her role as the twisted resident of Albert Square.
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And it became so bad, she was forced to call the police!
Annette, who starred in EastEnders from 2014 to 2017, recently told Woman’s Weekly that fans targeted her after failing to understand the portrayal wasn’t real.
She said: “Fans hated my character, but they loved to hate me.
“I’ve had threats. I had to involve the police. It’s a dangerous old business being in a soap!”
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Opening up about her Walford character’s motivations for being evil, Annette suggested the unofficial Carter matriarch was horrible because of past “pain”.
Annette – who has also starred in Midsomer Murders, Outlander, Cutting It and Doctor Who – continued: “I always said she was a horrible character, but it comes from somewhere – pain, hurt, rejection and not being loved.”
Aunt Babe certainly had a huge impact on the soap, and some of her biggest storylines included her past baby farming, encouraging Abi Branning to fake a pregnancy, blackmailing Les Coker and her subsequent feud with Claudette Hubbard.
In September 2016, EastEnders revealed that Aunt Babe’s reign of terror would be coming to an end in early 2017.
In the six months that followed, however, Mick and Linda gave her countless chances to be a better person.
Even after landing Mick with a hefty £20,000 fine when she illegally sold booze after hours in the Vic, it looked as if bad Babe was never going to get her comeuppance.
But her downfall eventually came when she tried to force Sylvie to drown herself in Walford’s canal…
When Sylvie exposed her, Babe showed her true colours in dramatic style and disappeared from the Queen Vic in a puff of smoke.
But some fans would love to see her back one day… Could she be the one to bring down Stuart Highway?
Now THAT we would love to see (if EastEnders fans haven’t scared her off, that is)!
Would you like to see Aunt Babe back in Albert Square? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!