Patsy Kensit bags dream role in EastEnders and will play Lola Pearce’s mum

Patsy Kensit has landed a role in EastEnders and will appear as Lola Pearce’s mum for a short stint.

The actress, 54, has past soap experience having previously starred in both Emmerdale and Holby City, however, she has previously expressed interest in joining the cast of the BBC show.

And despite not appearing in Albert Square in a permanent role, Patsy’s time will certainly be eventful as she’ll be part of the emotional storyline that will see Lola lose her battle with terminal brain cancer.

Soap star: Patsy Kensit has landed a role in EastEnders and will appear as Lola Pearce’s mum for a short stint

A source told The Sun: ‘Bosses are thrilled they have managed to get Patsy for this role.

‘She’s a great actress and is about to play a part in one of their biggest current storylines.’

MailOnline have contacted representatives of EastEnders and Patsy for comment. 

The publication reports that Patsy will start filming later this month, with her scenes due to air around Christmas time. 

Role: despite not appearing in Albert Square in a permanent role, Patsy’s time will certainly be eventful as she’ll be part of the emotional storyline that will see Lola (pictured) lose her battle with terminal brain cancer

Her character Emma has never appeared in the soap before, having abandoned Lola (Danielle Harold) and her father when her daughter was just three years old.

Danielle, who plays Lola is set to leave the soap following the storyline. 

Back in 2019, former model Patsy told of her interest in heading to Walford and becoming the new Peggy Mitchell.

She told Radio Times: ‘I’d love to do EastEnders, my father was involved in organised crime in the East End, so I grew up around villains and that kind of backdrop. I can pull a pint and say, ‘You’re barred’.

TV star: The actress, 54, has past soap experience having previously starred in both Emmerdale and Holby City, however, she has previously expressed interest in joining the cast of the BBC show (pictured in Emmerdale in 2004)

Actress: ‘Bosses are thrilled they have managed to get Patsy for this role. She’s a great actress and is about to play a part in one of their biggest current storylines’

On if she could step into the shoes of the legendary late landlady, she said: ‘I do think that! I’m not insulting Barbara Windsor because I think she’s so wonderful. But I’d like to play a really strong matriarch.’

She added: ‘I’ve got a good bit of energy, so I’d like to go out with a real bang and play someone like that.’

Patsy has real-life links to the East End, having grown up around organised crime with her brother’s Godfather even being notorious gangster Reggie Kray.

In addition her father – who was nicknamed Jimmy The Dip for his pickpocketing tendencies – was an associate of the Kray Twins. 

She was brought up on a council estate and in her autobiography Absolute Beginner she said she had to flee to Paris as her dad was on the run. 

She said in 2013: ‘Having to flee our home like that could have been pretty traumatising for a child, but it didn’t scar me,’ 

‘To be honest, I found it all very exciting. I couldn’t understand why Mum looked so sad the entire time we were away. Now, of course, I know it was because Dad was on the run.’

Filming: The publication reports that Patsy will start filming later this month, with her scenes due to air around Christmas time

Her father masqueraded as a travel writer to secure passage on a cruise ship before being arrested on his return to London. 

In her book Patsy has previously described parties held at her father’s friends’ homes as being ‘like something straight out of The Sopranos’. 

She also revealed details of letters sent to her from prison by Reggie asking for a signed photograph and telling her he was there for her if she needed anything – but Patsy new little about her father’s criminal activities when she was young.

‘We only ever got glimpses,’ she said. ‘His associates used to come over and go into the sitting room, where Dad would draw the curtains. Jamie and I would have to leave, but we could hear them doing the count-up from outside the door.

‘Sometimes I’d accompany Dad to meetings with his associates at West End hotels, which I loved because all the posh hotels had swimming pools. I’d go for a swim while he chatted to his mates.’

Patsy’s past soap roles include Jimmy’s ex-wife Sadie King in Emmerdale and nurse Faye Morton in Holby City.

Patricia an actress, model and was the lead singer of the band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s.

Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Birds Eye frozen peas. 

She then went on to appear in the films The Great Gatsby (1974), Gold (1974), Alfie Darling (1975), The Blue Bird (1976) and Hanover Street (1979). 

Patsy achieved further success in her breakthrough role as Suzette in the musical film Absolute Beginners (1986) and as Rika van den Haas in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989).

She has been married to musicians Dan Donovan, Jim Kerr, Liam Gallagher and Jeremy Healy. 

Soap Queen: Patsy’s past soap roles include Jimmy’s ex-wife Sadie King in Emmerdale and nurse Faye Morton in Holby City (pictured in Holby City in 2010)