067: Cheryl Fergison (Part Two)

The Show People Podcast With Andrew Keates

Cheryl Fergison returns to The Show People Podcast for a deeply personal conversation about her iconic role as Heather Trott on EastEnders, tracing her journey from a brief

Key takeaways

• Fergison initially booked Heather Trott for five episodes before it expanded into a five-year run on EastEnders.
• She co-developed the character's backstory with Linda Henry, including the headband detail inspired by her own childhood memories of her father.

Main topics

• EastEnders casting and character development
• Food addiction and media representation

Notable quotes

I sussed out quite early on... what EastEnders were doing for in terms of comic effect so I went up and spoke to the powers that be and said listen You can't keep doing that.

Conclusion

Fergison's narrative transforms personal trauma into a masterclass on resilience,

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) Hello company and welcome to the Show People podcast, the podcast that shines a spotlight on the UK performing arts industry and those dedicated to their craft. My name is Andrew Keats, I'm the Artistic Director of Queer Theatre and your host. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, the one, the only, Cheryl Ferguson! Speaker 1 (0:23) Thank you. Speaker 2 (0:25) Oops. Oh, I'm off to hold on to you. That's it. Always. Always. Speaker 2 (0:31) Aha! I'm back. Yes. Welcome back. Thank you. Speaker 1 (0:36) EastEnders. Oh yes! Speaker 1 (0:40) How did you find yourself first in Walford? Speaker 2 (0:45) I was in Walford two years before I became Heather. I had an audition for a part called... I think it was big. Speaker 2 (0:59) Big again. I think it was Big Mo or Big Joe. I can't actually remember. And basically I was in prison. And it was basically Cat Slater's way of coming back into the show once Jessie Wallace has had her daughter. And I was a friend of Big Mo's. And Big Mo came into prison and she visited me. So it was Big Mo and I was... I can't remember, I think it was Joe or something like that, Big Joe. And we'd have a scene in the prison and then this kind of woman kicked off in the background and it ended up being a duff-duff and it was Cat Slater back in again. So I played this totally inmate. Speaker 2 (1:47) two years previously. And the rule is you can't go back into the soap or be written as another character unless it's been two years. So two years on, my new agent, because I got rid of when he passed away, and I had this amazing Bird flu, was it? Sorry. Agent called Howard Cook, who is still a good friend, but he's sort of semi-retired now. And he said, oh, you've got an audition for EastEnders. And I said, oh, OK. I've done it before. And he said, well, you know, go along. So I went on to Elstree and I went in. Normally, when you go in for an audition, there's normally about five or six people who look like you. So I went into the room and it was the end of the day and there was nobody who looked like me and I thought there was nobody in there at all actually. I thought, oh God, have they all gone home? And then somebody came along and they asked me to go into this room. I went into the room and could I read this side and read this scene? And somebody was reading the other end of it. Speaker 2 (3:05) Went home didn't think anything about it Next couple of days. I went into Asda to do my shopping And I got a phone call in Asda's saying, you've got the part. So I left me shopping Didn't take put any of it back right I left me shopping and ran out and I went to see my agent and I said, oh anyone It's just for five episodes just for five episodes. You're going in as Shirley's friend and I went okay Before Speaker 1 (3:37) you go into the story because the story is good. Speaker 2 (3:39) Hmm, but Speaker 1 (3:40) what are you feeling? What are you feeling when you hear because for so many actors like he said this is the game changer. Oh, Speaker 2 (3:47) yeah What Speaker 1 (3:47) do you feel in that moment when that call comes? I think Speaker 2 (3:50) I get another chance because I loved it so much the first time around that I get this other chance to play somebody else and to go in. And if I'm good at it, if this five episodes, anything can happen. And I was determined to make this happen. In some way, shape or form, I was going to do that. And I'd already been just briefly briefed about Heather. Speaker 2 (4:17) And Heather developed by something that Linda, who played Shirley, and myself, we made backstories when we got together about how we were, how we grew up. So we kind of, we made up this friendship that started very young. And we said things like, well... Shirley would make Heather go and nick things from Chelsea Girl, like makeup, when they were kids. So she'd make me go into Chelsea Girl, I'd nick the makeup and she'd divvy it up with me. She was always that kind of, you know, do what I say and I'll be your friend. I thought, this isn't far from the truth. I'm going back to my childhood again here. Speaker 2 (5:04) Yeah, so we kind of developed things and then I remember them saying, OK, can you write a bit more of a backstory for her? And I thought, what am I doing their work for them here? You know, but it turned out I was writing this sort of thing about Heather. Heather wore headbands and that was my doing. And I kind of wish I hadn't done it because I don't know if you've ever worn headbands on a regular basis, but you get such a headache. I had so many paracetamol because my head was killing me with these. I soon learned to have less hard headbands and asked the wardrobe department, could I have softer headbands, please? But yeah, it was I made up this whole story that. Speaker 2 (5:50) It was quite sad really. Again, was this a reflection of my own childhood from the past? Because I didn't know who my dad was when I was a child. I didn't know. But I'd said to the writers, I think that Heather wore headbands. And they went, oh, really? Why do you think she wore headbands? And I went, because when she was younger... I said I think her mum's a bit of a tyrant actually I said and I think that she wore headbands because Speaker 2 (6:25) She loved her dad and she remembered her dad saying, you look beautiful with those headbands on when you were a child. And he went out the door. I said, and he never came home that day. He never came back. And they were like, oh, my God, that's incredible. And I went, yeah, so every day she wore a headband because she thought somebody told her she looked beautiful when she wore a headband. And in her adult life, she continued to wear headbands. And they were like. oh that's amazing and then i then i put something stupid in and said oh she carried a shopping trolley and they went no no no she doesn't carry a shopping trolley you know one of these and i thought okay she's doesn't um and they put me in the first scene which was basically i turned up on albert square with a karaoke machine Speaker 1 (7:17) um Speaker 2 (7:19) and i knocked on this front door and it was shirley's front door and she was having a party and i i went in there and the whole episode was uh me joining this party and finding me mate and it ended up in a punch up and me smashing Gary and Minty over the head with handbags. I then ended up in bed with Gary Hobbs who was the mechanic at the time, Gary and Minty were the male duo of the two and I ended up in bed with it and he wakes up beside me and is kind of in absolute horror and I'm waking up thinking oh Did I? Didn't I? And we had this whole thing of did we, didn't we? And he went, no, we didn't. And I go, oh, OK. I've still got my headband on at this point. So it's like, OK. So that's how I kind of ended up in the square, first of all. Yeah. And five episodes turned into five years eventually, which was incredible. Five years of my life, I have to say. And when you are asked to do something. Speaker 2 (8:23) With all the characters that were in there, with all the people you meet, I mean, my era, I have to say, was one of the most, again, everybody says it, but I think I had the most wonderful, iconic actors in that era. I mean, you know, Barbara Windsor, June Brown, you know, Pam St. Clement. They were just these amazing... Rudolph, who's still in there. I mean, it's... So many stories. of that place, I could tell you. They always say if the wolves could speak, then there would be lots of lots of things going on in that place that you guys would love. You'd love to know all the gossip. But I don't mind spilling a bit either, if I'm honest. But it was a wonderful, absolutely blessed time. I loved getting up in the morning. They used to call us the bankers. Why? Now I say bankers yeah, Linda and I were the bankers because we were the first people in in the morning, we we sussed this out after a while, we were the first ones in, first scenes of the day and we were the last scenes of the day and we were like oh this is quite heavy isn't it and then just Speaker 1 (9:39) share with our audience how long would a filming day be for those who don't know about so well depends Speaker 2 (9:43) on your storyline or what's in it or what they fancy but you could start around about seven o'clock in the morning and you may finish seven o'clock at night depending on what what goes on who's doing what where um and we were called the bankers because Linda and I were quite good at doing our lines and doing the scenes quickly so we'd start the day with one take, two takes are the most. And by the end of the day, everybody else is messed up during the day. The day was going on too long. So they go, OK, now get Linda and Cheryl in because they'll end it. And again, we just ended it by doing, you know, one take, two takes. And they knew that it was a case of we'd wrap it up. It wouldn't go on further. But yeah, it was it was a great time. It was fantastic. Brilliant memories. Brilliant working with. I love the sound people, I love the camera people, I love... I just... You absorb everything the minute you go through those gates. I love showing the security my pass. I mean, and they would go, well, we Speaker 1 (10:52) know who you are. Speaker 2 (10:53) You know, look at my pass. It's my pass. And, you know, so you kind of... I was blessed. If I heard anybody in that building... moaning and you moan at work, you do moan at work at the silliest things. And I'm not saying I didn't moan at anything, but if I heard anybody moaning about, oh, it's a long day, oh, I've got a long scene, oh, I just think, go on then, trot off. Off you go, because there's people lining up there who would love to be in this programme and you're moaning and you're on a big old whack of money and I don't get it. I don't, I do not understand that when you get an opportunity like that and they want to keep you, why you would want to just moan about something. You know, at times you go to these awards. I remember, you know, you go to awards ceremonies, you win awards and you go, people like me. I don't, again, that thing of recognition of yourself. what they didn't like as a child, you were kind of going, up yours, I've got this, up yours, you know. And I did later on in life, I actually went and did panto in the town where this woman... Speaker 2 (12:14) was a child who I smacked in the eye. So you were reunited with Speaker 1 (12:19) her? Speaker 2 (12:20) Reunited with a lot of people who came to backstage and went, do you remember me? I was at the school and I thought, and I went, yes. I said, of course I do. How are you? Are you all right? I'm thinking, you're the one in the nearest... Yeah. And you're still, but you're smiling because you go, come on. And they go, no, this is my child. And I go, hello. And then they go, this is my grandchild. And I go... Grandchild? What age did you start? I've only got a child. I haven't got the grandchild yet. But it was a blessed time to be there. I absolutely had an amazing time. Speaker 2 (12:59) I can't explain that it's an era of my life that I will never forget, never get fed up with being shouted, Hev! Hev! White van men, they do a lot of that. Hev! White Hev! If you're in London, Hev! If you're up north, hey, hey, are you that lady from Coronation Street? No, no, not Coronation Street, the other one, that southern one. Ever trot, that's it, you're ever trot. So even though I live up north now, you still get it. It's an incredible thing. I mean, as my son said quite early on, Mum, he was again a young person, Mum, you're a meme. I didn't know what a meme was. You do now. I do now, yeah. Speaker 1 (13:44) He Speaker 2 (13:45) said... There's this thing where you fall on the square and people say things about your asthma attack and they say things like, when the school kids are on holiday, this is what you're doing. There's all these memes and I'm going, oh, is that what a meme is? Is it popular? Yeah, Mum, it's like, you know. And he wasn't, you know, he was much more of a Doctor Who fan than he was an EastEnders fan. But yeah, I sort of, you know, I had a great time. Anybody who says they don't have a fantastic time, I think that they have obviously been not with the right company within that, within, you know, in filming. And I'm not saying everybody was wonderful because, you know, not spilling any sort of tea here in any shape or form. Most people in that building were absolutely lovely. There was a few that were a bit... tricky and the people you thought might be tricky were not tricky and still