Maisie Smith thought she was moving to Albert Square when she started on EastEnders.
The 17-year-old star was just six years old when she made her debut as Tiffany Butcher 11 years ago, and during her first day on set the youngster believed her family were moving to Walford in real life, until her mum eventually convinced her otherwise.
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She said: “Apparently, this is what my mum told me, on my first day of being on set I looked at all the houses and said, ‘Mum, I don’t really want to live here.’
“I thought we were moving. And she said, ‘Oh, Mais, it’s not real.’
“But I had no idea. She had to really convince me that we weren’t actually moving to some random square in London.”
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Despite being just six years old, Maisie admits she “had so much confidence” when she auditioned for the show, so much so she chucked her script onto a chair, which she believes stood her in good stead for portraying Tiffany.
She added to Inside Soap magazine: “I had so much confidence as I wasn’t 100 per cent sure what I was meant to be doing.
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“I just knew that I had to learn some words – so when I went in there, I’d just memorised them.
“I just threw the script on the chair and said, ‘I don’t need that, I already know what I’m doing.’
“From that moment, I think they knew I was meant to be Tiff.”
Maisie is preparing for her on-screen mum, Bianca Jackson’s return to the Square this autumn.
Actress Patsy Palmer appeard on This Morning today (Thursday June 20) and revealed she is really called Julie to a stunned Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
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