EastEnders spoilers: Gina Knight to be “spiky” and clash with Elaine

Actress Francesca Henry takes on the role of the fiery Gina Knight in EastEnders’ new first family.

By Lewis Knight

Published: Thursday, 25 May 2023 at 12:00 am

The Knight family is set to place the cat amongst the pigeons in EastEnders this summer.

Among the trio of Knights coming to the Queen Vic pub to join Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) and her mother is Gina Knight.

Discussing her character in relation to her bubbly little sister Anna (Molly Rainford), actress Francesca Henry revealed to RadioTimes.com and other press at a launch for the Knight family that Gina had a very different experience to Anna when growing up.

Henry revealed: “I think Gina is really funny and she’s really spiky and I think she sees the kindness in everyone, and I think she wants to be more Anna but she just finds it hard to meet the world in as open-hearted a way and so I think she’s like… she’s difficult [laughs].

“She is difficult and sometimes I’m playing it, I’m like, ‘God, that could have been so easy, an easy interaction and they’re trying to be your mate,’ but she just meets the world with a bit more difficulty than the rest of her family. I think. Well, I think she’s kind.”

However, she has a very close bond with her father George, played by Colin Salmon, and the two are very similar.

Salmon added: “And she got me through what I went through. Yeah, so she grew up too quick.”

This close bond, however, means that Gina will clash somewhat with her prospective stepmother Elaine Peacock, now played by Harriet Thorpe.

Henry added: “Yeah, I think there’s a thing with them like, Gina’s relinquishing a lot of her position in the family to Elaine, she’s the, you know… the eldest sister often takes on a lot of caregiving and emotional baggage of the family.”