“Albert Square is no longer Sonia’s happy place,” she begins. “Bianca doing the true crime podcast about Sonia’s relationship with Reiss really angered her. She’s hurt and frustrated, and the thought of people knowing her business and hanging around outside her front door taking pictures makes her feel unsafe.

“There are ghosts around every corner. She’s lost Martin, who meant so much, the dream of being a happy family unit with Reiss and the baby obviously hasn’t happened. She’s also vulnerable after just having a baby. The idea of a fresh start away from Walford becomes appealing to her.”

The gruesome story of evil Reiss, who murdered his comatose wife and framed Sonia for it, has made the Square stalwart something of a celebrity. True crime fans are flocking to see where the late villain lived, it’s no wonder Son feels driven out of her own home.

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But it’s not just obsessed fans wanting to catch a glimpse of the woman engaged to the killer, someone else is lurking in the shadows desperate to speak to Sonia. The identity of the mystery man is under wraps for now, but Cassidy hints he plays an important part in her soap swan song.

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“This is a real shock for the viewers,” she teases. “Someone we’ve never seen before comes out of the woodwork which is a surprise for Sonia, Bianca and a few other characters. Sometimes in life you wonder, ‘why has the universe brought me that person at this moment?’ That’s where Sonia is. Maybe their arrival is a sign as to what to do next…

“Sonia’s last week is wonderful. It’s a real crescendo and a look back on her history which is nice. It did feel very final, though. I left in 2007, popped back a few times then came back permanently in 2014. This time it really was like I was saying goodbye.”

Cassidy gave EastEnders producers ample notice of her desire to make her own fresh start. She’s keen to spread her creative wings outside of acting – she’s currently hosting C4 consumer show What’s the Big Deal: Britain’s Best Buys? and podcasts Life with Nat and Off the Telly, with Joanna Page – and wants to spend more time with her family.

“My children are a big part of it (Cassidy is mum to Eliza, 14, and Joanie, eight), they’re going to be grown up soon and I just want to be around more. When you work on a soap planning things can be really difficult, you miss a lot of sports days or big occasions. Having a bit more control over when you work is another reason.

“Also, characters can get tired and it’s good to rest them for a while. I wouldn’t have the arrogance to say Sonia will be back one day, that’s not my choice, but you never know what’s around the corner. At the moment I’ve just left so I’m not thinking about that. Sonia is a part of everybody’s lives, she still has links to the Square and won’t be forgotten.”

That’s an understatement – Sonia was unforgettable from the minute she appeared on screen back in 1993, as part of the formidable, fiery Jackson family. The second youngest child of tiger mum Carol, Sonia was quirky, straight-talking and wise beyond her years, which isn’t too far removed from how Cassidy describes herself at the age she was when she got the part.

EastEnders,02-04-2025,7095,Sonia Fowler (NATALIE CASSIDY);Bianca Jackson (PATSY PALMER),***EMBARGOED UNTIL TUESDAY 25TH MARCH 2025***,BBC PUBLIC SERVICE,Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron
EastEnders.
“I was a bit of an old soul,” she recalls. “My nans were both quite poorly so I spent a lot of time visiting hospitals after school, I’d entertain patients on the geriatric wards, dancing around and singing old Frank Sinatra songs my dad had played around the house. I loved performing and was always up the front whenever there was a school play.”

Cassidy’s love of the limelight led her to enrolling at the famous Anna Scher theatre school, based near her north London childhood home. Numerous EastEnders alumni cut their teeth there, including Sonia’s on-screen sister Patsy Palmer (Bianca Jackson), though 10-year-old Cassidy had no idea what her hobby would lead to.

“A friend was going to Anna’s and I just went with her one day. It wasn’t on my radar I had to get to drama school or anything, it just happened by chance. Before long I’d moved up to going twice a week and became what they called a YP, a ‘Young Professional’, which meant you were put on the casting card for professional jobs. A few weeks later Tony McHale, the writer who created the Jacksons, saw me in an improv class.

“I think they’d already cast Lindsey Coulson as Carol and wanted Sonia to be her mini-me, a little blonde, waif-like girl. They thought I was a funny little thing and went with me instead! All the Jacksons met for the first time at Elstree to have our picture taken together. We hit it off immediately.”

Young Cassidy was calm and collected at the prospect of joining one of the biggest TV shows in the country, mainly because she’d never seen it. “We watched Corrie in my house!” she admits. “I only really saw kids shows at that age and wasn’t aware of who was famous. I had no idea Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) had been Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served?, I’d never heard of it!”

Learning from bona fide legends taught Cassidy professional and personal lessons she continues to live by. “My professionalism and punctuality rippled down from Wendy, who really took me under her wing, and Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell). They were old school pros. Pam St Clement (Pat Evans) and Mike Reid (Frank Butcher) were lovely to me, it was really collaborative. I’d been around adults a lot so wasn’t scared of talking to them. I learnt everything sat on the sofas in the green room with the grown-ups.”

Sonia would come to have a particularly special bond with Dot Branning, as did Cassidy with the iconic June Brown who played her. A two-hander episode in 2002 between Sonia and Dot remains one of Cassidy’s greatest acting challenges, and brought her and Brown closer.

“I was 18, she would’ve probably been in her in late 70s. June would come and stay at my flat to go over the script, we would drink red wine in our pyjamas. I spent so much time with June, we’d often be on the phone for two or three hours. There was an incredible age gap but as actors on the show we’re all equal, regardless of age, gender or anything else. I believe June mixing with the younger cast and opening her arms to them is what kept her young.

“June didn’t take life too seriously, but she took her job incredibly seriously. Even if Dot wasn’t the main character in a scene and was just ordering a bacon sandwich in the café, she always thought carefully about how she’d do it. That work ethic is ingrained in me, treat each scene the same and do your best every day.”

Mo holding Sonia’s hands as she gives birth on a sofa in EastEnders
EastEnders. BBC PUBLIC SERVICE
Always authentic and utterly relatable, Cassidy has made Sonia a true icon. Considering she’s never been a larger-than-life or extreme presence on the Square, why does she have such a special place in the nation’s hearts? “I think it’s nostalgia,” Cassidy considers. “People have grown up with her. She’s not nasty or done anything wrong. Sonia is a good egg and very real, we’ve watched her study hard, become a nurse and work her way up. And of course there’s the trumpet!

“When Sonia started playing the instrument as a kid I actually had lessons myself, just to learn how to get a noise out of it. They had to stop because I was getting too good and Sonia was meant to be rubbish!”

Her self-awareness and streak of self-deprecation saw Cassidy react with admirably good humour to Morgana Robinson’s notorious impression, first unleashed back in 2010. The comedian’s mimicking of Cassidy ‘Just doing this now’ as she undertakes menial, often surreal, household tasks has led to the pair doing sketches together and actually becoming friends.

“I love it,” she confesses, clearly happy to be in on the joke. “When I first saw the impression it really cheered me up. If you’re big enough to be impersonated it means people must know who you are. I felt very honoured!

“Morgana’s impression, that image from the ’90s of me in a peach bridesmaids dress holding the trumpet, Sonia has sort of become a part of our pop culture – it’s brilliant!”