With EastEnders planning an historical flashback episode centring around some of the most loved and classic members of the Mitchell family, it was a no brainer that matriarch Peggy Mitchell would be back at the head of the family.

But who could do justice to the late Barbara Windsor’s most famous role? Jaime Winstone, of course.

The actress took on the role of Barbara herself in BBC series Babs in 2017, so she already knows a thing or two about what to expect when it comes to taking on Dame Babs’ iconic landlady.

‘I was so lucky to spend a lot of time with Barbara in her later years when I prepared for Babs, I used to go around her house, we’d have cups of tea, we’d sing around the piano together.’ Jaime reminisced.

‘I watched when we were at home together, where she would make you a cup of tea, or how she would move in her home, how she put her slippers on, how she would clean everything after you’ve touched anything.

How she’d touch you when she’d talk to you to make you feel comfortable. She was just so generous and giving.

‘Barbara wasn’t a mother in real life but she was a mother to the nation. I always felt she was such an amazing mum as Peggy to her boys and so obsessed with the care and nurturing part of anyone she came into contact with. I just really drew on that aspect.’

While impersonating Barbara and Peggy wasn’t something she was too worried about, Jaime expressed her nerves at being a part of EastEnders and its history.

‘When this came up, it did just suddenly come into my life: ‘Oh my God, EastEnders. What do I do with that? How do I go about that? I’ve got a background in film and TV, but EastEnders is an institution and we’ve all grown up with it’.

‘Preparing was quite hard because you’re walking into EastEnders. It’s f***ing nerve-wracking. No pressure, you’re just playing the most iconic character in British TV history! I tried to turn the nerves into excitement and as soon as I put that wig on, I could hear her saying, ‘you’ve got this’.’

Jaime revealed that she read the script for the episode twice, because she ‘couldn’t put it down’.

‘I was so invested in these characters, as we all are. Just seeing Phil and Grant as young men, then Peggy, then Eric…

‘I just fell in love with it. I love that it read like a play. I love that it was a working class period drama on the BBC. I thought that was just so monumental for what’s going on now. I love the parallels in the script, with Thatcher on the telly and what’s going on now in the UK. It’s scarily similar.

‘It just pulled at my heartstrings and obviously Barbara and Peggy, I was like ‘this is juicy, this is something I can get my teeth into’.

‘[Peggy]’s different, she’s tough, she’s vulnerable but nobody’s seen her at this point in her life.’

From what we can gather, the Mitchell flashback episode is set to be not-to-be-missed television!

One to watch: Monday September 5 at 7:30pm on BBC One.

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