EastEnders star teases Kathy Beale’s nasty discovery about Sharon Watts

Actress Gillian Taylforth has teased a potential clash between the old friends.

By Lewis Knight

Published: Tuesday, 11 July 2023 at 12:00 am

Gillian Taylforth has teased that her EastEnders character Kathy Beale could soon make a discovery about Sharon Watts.

The two longest-running female characters in the BBC One soap’s history have always had a complicated relationship.

Kathy was the best friend of Sharon’s mother Angie Watts (Anita Dobson) and always looked out for Sharon but their relationship sustained considerable damage in 1994 when Kathy learned about Sharon’s adulterous affair with Kathy’s fiance Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).

The pair still experienced tensions after Kathy ‘rose from the dead’ in 2015 but eventually buried the hatchet, that was until Ian married Sharon in 2020 and later disappeared from the Square, signing the Queen Vic pub over to her and annulling the marriage in January 2021.

Unbeknownst to Kathy, Ian had been almost murdered by Sharon and their ex-husband Phil for his involvement in the death of Sharon’s son Dennis Rickman, Jr. (Bleu Landau).

Kathy was initially confused and angry with Sharon but the pair later became firm friends again.

Now, Ian is set to return to Walford later this summer, accompanied by his first wife – the presumed dead Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins).

On whether Ian’s return will reignite Kathy’s feud with Sharon, Taylforth suggests it could lead to conflict when speaking with RadioTimes.com and other press.

"Letitia
Letitia Dean as Sharon Watts after being slapped by Gillian Taylforth as Kathy Beale with Steve McFadden as Phil Mitchell watching behind them in EastEnders in 1994.
BBC

“Yeah, I mean, possibly that could be, I mean, because, yeah, it was all down to her,” noted Taylforth. “Although it’s never been played out, that bit. We’ve never done that together, you know, so it would be very interesting because she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know yet.

“She tried to kill him, didn’t she? She never told her, Sharon’s never told her, obviously…so that may well come out in the future. And if that does, that’d be a very interesting storyline to take up and to do.

“So she doesn’t know why quite as much. But that’s why she couldn’t understand why he’d suddenly given her the pub. Yeah, what was that about?”

"Letitia
Letitia Dean as Sharon Watts and Gillian Taylforth as Kathy Beale in EastEnders in 2015.
BBC

The actress added: “Yeah, that’d be interesting to come out, that one. We’re waiting to see, watch this space.”

Both ladies already have a lot to deal with in the coming weeks, with Kathy’s potentially disastrous nuptials with Rocky Cotton (Brian Conley) and Sharon facing difficulties in her relationship with fiancee Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) following the return of his daughter Peggy and her grandmother Lisa Fowler (Lucy Benjamin).

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