EastEnders actor Lacey Turner has recalled how her co-stars “fell to their knees” when she told them she was pregnant last year.

The BBC soap star, who plays Stacey Slater, gave birth to her third child Gipsy Olive in January.

At first, she wanted to keep things a secret, but revealed it wasn’t that simple because she was “literally falling asleep filming the court scenes” during the Dean Wicks storyline.

“My head was on the table. The director must have thought, ‘What has got into her?'” she explained to Giovanna Fletcher on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast.

While the men on set didn’t suspect anything, her fellow female cast members who make up The Six clocked something was happening and they ended up being the first people who knew.

“We was in the Winnebago, and they were like, ‘Oh, how are you feeling?’ and I was like, ‘Well, I’m actually pregnant,'” Lacey said.

the six in eastenders stacey slater, suki panesar, linda carter, sharon mitchell, denise fox, kathy beale

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“And they all literally fell to their knees. And I was like, ‘You’re the first people I’ve told!'” she said.

“I thought they must be thinking like, ‘What is she doing? Why do you keep falling asleep everywhere?'” Lacey added. “I wasn’t going to get away with it. Normally you can pop up to your dressing room, but I didn’t have a dressing room to hide.

“I had nowhere to hide. I’m just stuck in the Winnebago with everyone looking at me.”

stacey slater, eastenders

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Lacey took time off for maternity leave, but returned for the emotional 40th anniversary live episode.

Stacey has been back on the Square this week for Martin Fowler’s funeral, although she’s not in a good state due to her guilt.

“I don’t think she’ll ever get over losing Martin, they were so close even when they weren’t together,” Lacey said.

“Stacey is going to have to learn to live with it because she’s got kids that need her, but it won’t be easy.”

EastEnders airs on Mondays-Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.