BBC EastEnders star shares real reason she refused to stop filming scenes despite cancer diagnosis: ‘I need to’
EastEnders star Heather Peace has revealed the real reason she continued to film scenes for the BBC soap following a breast cancer diagnosis.
The Eve Unwin star, 50, shared earlier this year that she has been battling cancer since October.
Speaking in May, the actress revealed that she had undergone treatment for a 12cm tumour requiring a mastectomy and chemotherapy.
Shockingly, she announced this month that her wife Ellie Dickinson was diagnosed with the same cancer shortly before her own diagnosis.
Last week, Peace opened up about why she refused to stop filming for EastEnders as her storyline in the soap reached a pivotal point.
Peace’s character Eve’s storyline with Suki Panesar (played by Balvinder Sopal) was wrapping up, with the pair set to get married after a dramatic start to their relationship.
Fans of the soap were on the edge of their seats in the build-up to the big day, with Suki’s ex-husband Nish (Navin Chowdhry) poisoning Eve in a last-ditch attempt to stop his ex from getting married.
In typical soap fashion, Nish ended up dying after falling from a balcony.
Peace reflected on finishing the storyline despite bosses saying she didn’t need to work.
“We got back to Brighton at 7 o’clock, and I was on the road at 10 past five that morning, to Elstree, to start possibly the two biggest weeks that I’ve done on EastEnders,” she recalled.
“I said, ‘I need to come in’ because at this point, I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“And I want to finish this arc of the story. Not coming in for the next two weeks is not going to change anything, but at least let me put the full stop on a story that’s been playing out for nearly two and a half years.”
Speaking on Gaby Roslin’s podcast, she continued: “If we get to the end of that and we see them get married and we see them successful, if beyond that it’s a mess, I can leave and feel like I’ve put a full stop on something.”
Peace shared last week how her wife of 11 years had previously been treated for a smaller but aggressive lump.
Speaking about their parallel experiences, Peace noted with humour: “She’s like, ‘Even that you have to do bigger.’ It’s like, ‘Hold my beer.'”
The couple have supported one another throughout their respective cancer journeys.
It had been Dickinson who eventually persuaded Peace to see a doctor after she initially put it off due to her demanding EastEnders schedule.
Within three hours of that appointment, the actress received her breast cancer diagnosis.
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“I swear everybody looked at me, it might be my imagination, but I felt like a dead woman walking,” Peace told The Mirror.
“I honestly did because it was so big, and so quick that they told us, and the seriousness and gravity with which I was told.”