EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has spoken out after her character Sonia Fowler was wrongfully sent to prison for the murder of Debbie Colwell.
This week saw Sonia and fiancé Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) arrested at their engagement party after police found evidence that his comatose wife had been murdered in her care home bed.
As fans of the BBC soap know, Reiss smothered her to death in a bid to solve his mounting debts, but was released without charge due to having an alibi.
Unluckily for Sonia, there was DNA evidence linking her to the scene, and she was charged and carted off to jail, with Reiss failing to speak up and admit his crime.
Natalie – who is widely rumoured to be taking a break from EastEnders – has said she ‘can’t believe’ Reiss has done this to Sonia.
‘To the point where she’s going to go down for it, and he doesn’t say, “This was me, I did this.” You are like, ‘Oh my god, he’s a psycho,’” she said, adding that Sonia ‘absolutely 100%’ believes Reiss is innocent.
‘It’s really shocking and dark; I look forward to seeing what happens next.’
Natalie described pregnant Sonia being charged for Debbie’s murder as ‘her worst nightmare come true’, fearing she may also lose her baby.
‘She absolutely cannot believe it, especially when Reiss has been let off because he has an alibi. I think it happens so quickly and in a flash that she’s just desperately scared about the baby and the impact this level of stress and trauma will have on a pregnancy that’s so fragile.
‘That’s her main concern, losing her baby or having her baby and them taking it away, like what happened with Bex. She’s worried that history is going to repeat itself.’
Fans will remember that Sonia gave birth to Bex as a teenager, not realising she was pregnant, before giving her up for adoption. After changing her mind, she then faced a fight to get her baby back.
Asked if anyone can save Sonia, Natalie added: ‘Who knows? But she’s got a lot of champions there on the Square…’
One of those champions could be sister Bianca Jackson, as it has been announced Patsy Palmer is returning to the role for another stint, following her guest appearance earlier this year.
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One and from 6am on iPlayer.
