{"id":21067,"date":"2022-08-30T01:01:47","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T23:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1698060"},"modified":"2022-08-30T01:17:33","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T23:17:33","slug":"jaime-winstone-says-barbara-windsor-sent-her-sign-over-eastenders-peggy-role","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/jaime-winstone-says-barbara-windsor-sent-her-sign-over-eastenders-peggy-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaime Winstone says Barbara Windsor sent her sign over EastEnders\u2019 Peggy role"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Laura Denby\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 30 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Jaime Winstone has opened up about receiving a sign which she took as approval from Dame Barbara Windsor to play the role of EastEnders\u2019 Peggy Mitchell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The star is portraying the iconic character in a special flashback episode of the BBC soap<\/a>, which sees a younger Peggy in 1979 during a time of economic crisis for Britain.<\/p>\n

Winstone previously played Barbara in BBC drama Babs, and worked directly with her at the time. And while contemplating the challenge of playing Barbara\u2019s most iconic character, the actress revealed that she made her decision after a series of signs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have such a deep connection with her and respect for her. I did have my own sort of question to her,\u201d she told RadioTimes.com<\/a> and other media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did actually have a little word with Barbara up above, and I got my signs, and I just felt like it was written for me. So I felt like I got the go ahead and Scott [Mitchell, Barbara\u2019s husband] approved it and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jaime Winstone as Peggy Mitchell. (BBC)<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Asked further about the sign she mentioned from Barbara, Winstone replied: \u201cIt\u2019s quite private, but\u2026it was a butterfly, actually. It was days before I was deciding, and it\u2019s an opportunity of a lifetime [but] I still had to think about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little blonde butterfly that kept coming in my garden and I was thinking\u2026we don\u2019t normally get too many butterflies. So that was my sign, \u2018that\u2019s her\u2019. You know when you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

The star also spoke fondly about her time working with Barbara. \u201cObviously it was a real honour to be asked to step into Barbara\u2019s shoes again. But I really felt like my journey with Barbara hadn\u2019t really finished, and this was a real opportunity for me to book-end my journey with Barbara.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Winstone said that of course, there were things about the late icon that simply couldn\u2019t be studied. But she could still draw inspiration from her experiences with Barbara.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we shot Babs I got to work with her very closely, I became very great friends with her; so there were certain things in terms of that you couldn\u2019t really study or be taught, in terms of the way she worked with people, the way she touched people\u2019s shoulders when she\u2019s talking to people, held your hands when she was advising you. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo there was stuff that I could draw naturally from my personal life, and then being asked to step into Peggy Mitchell\u2019s shoes\u00a0 \u2013 it\u2019s the one character I didn\u2019t get to do in Babs. So it really felt like book-ending my journey with her, and just such an honour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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