Tamzin Outhwaite is best known for playing the role of Mel Owen in EastEnders.
One of her most memorable storylines included one of the swiftest soap marriages ever to Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt).
At their reception she discovered evidence that Ian had lied to her about his daughter Lucy’s health and she promptly dumped him as the clock was striking the new millennium.
In 2019 her character was killed off. Mel died instantly when she was hit by a lorry in the middle of a feud with Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean).
It was a shocking moment for EastEnders fans, many of which have argued Mel shouldn’t have died. For actress Tamzin, she recently expressed her thoughts on the sudden departure of her character, and how her view on the exit has changed since 2019.
‘At the time, I was also quite devastated that she was killed off, because you mourn a character like that, who’s taken up a big section of your life’, the star told Metro.co.uk.
‘But now, I just wouldn’t be taking so many risks [if that hadn’t happened] and it makes me feel comfortable that it’s not possible to go back. I definitely had the feeling before of “oh, it would be nice to go back as an older character, that’s got some history in the square”. So yeah, I was really quite sad at the time and now I’m actually really happy about it.’
Tamzin recently joined forces with fellow soap stars Jo Joyner and Angela Griffin to film a Channel 5 drama called The Wives. It follows three sister-in-laws who uncover a family mystery while on holiday in Malta.
The show puts women in their late 40s and 50s right in the spotlight, something Tamzin hopes to see more regularly in the future.
‘I think it’s definitely getting better, in the sense that people are waking up to the fact that the people who watch most television are women of a certain age, and I don’t think they have been seeing themselves on screen that much. #
‘And in HD, when you’re in your 40s and 50s, you’re not going to look like your [stereotypical] leading lady on television at the moment – but it’s a breath of fresh air.’
‘She was wonderful to play as a character’, she added, discussing her charater Sylvie.
‘Relatable? I am quite freshly single, but I’ve never been on a dating app, and it’s not something I’m looking to do. But I know lots of people my age that do go on them. It’s a strange thing, isn’t it, dating in your 40s and 50s – I don’t really know how you go about it.
‘But playing a character that is unashamedly on the apps and meeting up with people just for sex is quite a liberating thing.
‘I love the way Sylvie has got to a place where she doesn’t care what anyone thinks – I’m definitely in that place too, I’m just not quite as advanced as her yet.’
You can also see Tamzin on stage as Beverly in a revival of Mike Leigh’s seminal 1970s suburban comedy-drama Abigail’s Party.
‘Do you know what, it wasn’t’, she revealed when asked if the role was ever on her bucket list.
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‘And I absolutely nearly said “no”, mainly because the shoes of Alison Steadman [who played Beverly in the original stage production and TV adaptation] are huge ones to fill. I wasn’t sure how to approach it – how do I do it without doing an impression of her? But at the same time, I know Beverlys – when I was growing up [in Essex], there was definitely one in my mum’s social circle. And because of that, [the role] didn’t feel that far away from me.’
‘The situations that Mike Leigh wrote, and continues to write, for working class people are extremely real [to me] as a working class person. I think he really understands the human psyche of that class and that set of people and in Abigail’s Party, he really captured that kind of aspirational consumerism that started in the 1970s.
‘At the same time, I think the play is still extremely relevant right now. I do actually feel like Beverly would probably be an influencer if it was set today.’
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