EastEnders stars tease ‘intense, dramatic and emotional’ Christmas episodes
The soap opera will be seeing the year out with a bang.
Shona McGarty and Zaraah Abrahams have opened up about the upcoming EastEnders Christmas episodes, which are set to feature a "dramatic" wedding between Chelsea Fox (Abrahams) and the nasty Gray Atkins (played by Toby-Alexander Smith).
Abrahams has teased that the wedding event will be "Instagram ready" and "quite classy", but it remains to be seen whether it will go ahead as planned, particularly as Whitney Dean (McGarty) is keeping a close eye on the ghastly groom.
"She’s known him a long time and has seen behaviours that are a bit concerning," said McGarty. "She used to blame it on losing his wife and being a single parent and finding it all very difficult but actually the warning signs are there.
"She’s expecting to find out there’s probably more to it and maybe he’s just not a very nice person."
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What caused Whitney to see Gray in a new light? "His behaviour. The way he got so aggressive when he realised Whitney knew about Chelsea’s pregnancy before him, that didn’t go down so well.
"His aggression towards her, she thinks ‘is it just her, or is it in him to be like that towards women?’ Warning signs [have] been there for a long time," McGarty added.
She also teased that that her character would "definitely" put herself in harm's way in order to expose him. "I feel Whitney is very selfless, she would risk her own life to save someone else. She’s brave and strong, and a joy to play because I’d just call the police!"
Asked how she felt being so central to the Christmas storyline, Abrahams said: "Pressure, man, I’m not going to lie! But very excited obviously. I just want to do EastEnders fans justice, because Christmas is such a big deal [for the show]."
And when asked to describe the episode in few words, the actress added: "Emotional... not electrifying but... intense, dramatic, and a word that means twists and turns... unexpected!"
Check out our handy guide to the Soaps Christmas 2021 schedule, or take a look at more of our Soaps coverage. Visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
