EastEnders actress recalls 'disturbing' death threats over iconic soap role

ok.co.uk:

EastEnders' Annette Badland, who played the villainous Aunt Babe, has revealed that she had to "live in hiding" due to receiving death threats.

The 74 year old actress portrayed Mick Carter's (Danny Dyer) wicked aunt, a character known for her heinous crimes including baby farming, blackmail and leaving her sister Sylvie (Linda Marlowe) for dead.

Reflecting on her time on the soap, Annette confessed that while she loved playing the character, some viewers took their hatred for Aunt Babe too far by sending her "disturbing" death threats.

In an exclusive chat with Reach PLC, she shared: "It's always good to place villains, it's intriguing though it has its consequences in a soap because I did get death threats at the end." She found it unsettling that people couldn't distinguish between her character and her real self, not realising that she was merely acting. "It's very disturbing that people can't divide between your character and yourself, they don't know you're acting." The threats eventually subsided after about a month, but not before involving security at the BBC and the police.They advised her not to disclose her whereabouts or go out too much. "It was a bit scary to begin with, they could trace some of it but it was public computers so they couldn't get anywhere specific, but it subsided," reports the Express.