Letitia Dean has played Sharon Watts in EastEnders for best part of four decades, but did you know she had to tell a cheeky fib to land the role?
Walford wouldn’t be the same without Dirty Den’s (Leslie Grantham) ‘princess’, who has seen pretty much everything there is to see since her introduction in the soap’s very first episode.
From the outset, Letitia has been handed hard-hitting storylines, including one that saw Sharon’s desire to take contraceptive pills as a teenager.
She then struggled with adoptive mum Angie’s (Anita Dobson) alcoholism, and was disgusted to learn that her best pal Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully) had conceived a child with her father.
We can’t mention Sharon without noting the iconic ‘Sharongate’ plot, that saw her engage in an affair with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) – whilst married to his brother Grant (Ross Kemp).
It’s undoubtable that shades of their messy history will be revisited in upcoming scenes, as Grant has made a welcome return to Albert Square to save Phil amid his mental health crisis.
Prior to joining the BBC drama, Letitia had small roles in Grange Hill and Brookside.
Had she not told a small lie to EastEnders creator Julia Smith, she wouldn’t have been cast as Sharon.
The issue was that Julia remained adamant that all of the cast members were born and raised in the East End, to make the programme as realistic as possible.
‘I was 16 or 17. You had to be born within the sound of Bow Bells and of course I wasn’t’ Letitia explains in new documentary 40 Years on The Square.
‘I was from Hertfordshire but I lied. They were very, very authentic.
‘Apparently I got cast for my dirty laugh.’
The Sharongate story is remembered in upcoming documentary 40 Years on The Square (Picture: BBC Picture Archives)
Referencing Sharongate, she continues: ‘I was trusted with a huge storyline in front of 25 million viewers. It’s still talked about to this day.
‘The best stories are slow burners.’
The doc, fronted by Ross Kemp, will see Letitia reunited with Anita Dobson as the pair reminisce about old times – and their legendary pooch Roly the poodle.
Remembering the canine companion, Anita reveals: ‘That dog, you would say “action”, he’d sit up, you’d say “cut” and he’d relax!’
There’s also an immensely sweet moment when she refers to Tish as ‘the baby girl I never had.’
