{"id":67218,"date":"2023-09-05T19:04:18","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T19:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celeband.com\/?p=67218"},"modified":"2023-09-05T19:04:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T19:04:18","slug":"i-never-thought-eastenders-would-be-so-prominent-in-my-life-insists-tanya-franks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celeband.com\/tv-movies\/i-never-thought-eastenders-would-be-so-prominent-in-my-life-insists-tanya-franks\/","title":{"rendered":"I never thought EastEnders would be so prominent in my life, insists Tanya Franks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former EastEnders actress Tanya Franks \u2013 known to millions as the soap\u2019s Rainie Cross \u2013 may have reportedly found love with Dame Barbara Windsor\u2019s widower, Scott Mitchell, but it\u2019s her first ever role in a musical that\u2019s giving her butterflies as she prepares to strip on stage.<\/p>\n

Tanya heads the cast in a new UK tour of the critically acclaimed Calendar Girls The Musical. She is playing Annie Clarke, who has just lost her husband to leukaemia and who spearheads the idea to strip off for a calendar. Emily Atack\u2019s aunt and <\/b> Coronation Street star, Amy Robbins, is also in the show. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe met at a photoshoot to photograph the poster,\u201d says Tanya. \u201cAnd it was one of those moments where you say, \u2018Hello we are going to be working together\u2019 and then find yourselves standing together in your underwear! It was definitely a baptism of fire to meet each other!<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll all make friends very quickly and say, \u2018I am trusting you with my complete modesty.\u2019 It\u2019s a responsibility for us all but this is such a new foray for me. I haven\u2019t done a musical professionally before and I want to channel my nerves and try and do the best I possibly can do. It\u2019s exciting.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Tanya says she has great empathy with Annie. \u201cIt\u2019s someone who is going through a massive loss,\u201d she explains. \u201cSo many people find themselves having to go through everything day to day when they\u2019re grieving. We all know what it is to love and to lose. When people pass away, it is never ever easy. You have to take five minutes at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 56-year-old is thrilled to be working with the musical\u2019s creators Tim Firth and Gary Barlow, but reveals she has never watched the original 2003 film, in which Julie Walters played the role of Annie. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased I haven\u2019t as I can come to it completely fresh,\u201d she adds. \u201cThe most wonderful thing about this business is so many things come your way you\u2019ve never foreseen. It\u2019s mad to think I\u2019ve gone from EastEnders to playing in Othello and now the Calendar Girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The friendly star says while she will be grateful for the opportunities playing Rainie has given her, it\u2019s also nice to play other roles. She first joined EastEnders in 2007 and went on to return as Rainie a further four times before arriving again in 2018.<\/p>\n

She then stayed for another four years before leaving in 2022. \u201cEastEnders is a show that has been fantastic to me and I have got a lot to thank it for,\u201d says Tanya proudly.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is such a wonderful character and I never thought EastEnders would be so prominent in my life. It\u2019s nice to play different characters but the soap is so ingrained in our psyche, it\u2019s natural people will ask if I would ever return.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople are thinking outside the box a lot more. 60 is the new 40. I haven\u2019t got to 60 yet but I am thinking in my head I am looking forward to being 40 when I\u2019m 60!\u201d<\/p>\n

Private Tanya avoids discussing her love life even though she was recently linked romantically with Scott, 60. They reportedly grew close while training for the London Marathon and have been pictured together several times since the story broke in July.<\/p>\n

She does, however, admit going on a reality show like Strictly Come Dancing or I\u2019m A Celebrity is also not on her radar, again because she values keeping her personal life out of the public eye. \u201cI don\u2019t actually get asked,\u201d she says. \u201cI think it\u2019s probably because they know I\u2019m not a reality TV girl. I admire people who want to do it and it\u2019s very brave of them but I like being the people who aren\u2019t Tanya Franks. I don\u2019t want to be Tanya Franks on a reality show!\u201d <\/p>\n

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She confides she is attracted to roles that are different to her. \u201cA lot of them are dealing with addictions or life troubles and you have to look at yourself and look at the stigmas you want to break down,\u201d she adds. \u201cI love playing characters who are thrown into a world I have not experienced in my own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many actresses, she doesn\u2019t envisage retiring and reveals it was some advice from the late, great Glenda Jackson when she was 15 that has been her biggest inspiration.<\/p>\n

Tanya says, \u201cShe told me to be prepared to be unemployed 80 percent of the time. I remember thinking, \u2018I am going to try and be employed 80 percent of the time.\u2019 It gave me my ambition. Now if I lost my ambition, it would be the time to give up. And I\u2019d never want to. It\u2019s good to still have ambitions. But I don\u2019t get so frustrated when things aren\u2019t happening like I used to years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She smiles as she reflects on what advice she\u2019d now give her 18-year-old self. \u201cI would tell myself to not get too hung up about comparing your journey to someone else\u2019s,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you put out good energy, then good energy comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going back to the subject of Calendar Girls, she hopes it will inspire a generation of younger women to embrace everything that is great about female camaraderie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a massive celebration throughout the ages of being a woman,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt\u2019s great to celebrate each other and it\u2019s great to embrace being a woman. I am so excited to be in this musical.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new production of Calendar Girls: The Musical, written by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, has been reimagined for a UK tour which runs into 2024. For more information, go to kenwright.com.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n