Samantha Janus and Rita Simons

Watch out Walford – the Mitchell sisters are in town!

Next week, Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell – Samantha Janus and Rita Simons, respectively – descend on Albert Square this week, when they turn up late for Phil (Steve McFadden) and Stella's (Sophie Thompson) reception, unaware of the events which unfolded at the countryside wedding venue.

After tidying themselves up in the taxi and immediately catching the eyes of Bradley (Charlie Clements) and Deano (Matt Di Angelo), the sisters barge into The Vic, instantly comparing the party to a morgue. The regulars, meanwhile, look on in astonishment.

The pair soon have their feet under the table with Peggy (Barbara Windsor) when they suggest that they look after the pub while she, Phil and Ben head off on holiday to see Grant. Shirley (Linda Henry), however, isn't best pleased with the arrangements.

And it's not long before the Mitchell-Beale feud is re-ignited, either.

Digital Spy caught up with Sam and Rita to talk about filming their first scenes, joining one of television's most well-established, well-known families and how they'd like Ray Winstone to play their on-screen father!

How did you both meet?
[SJ] "We met in a room at Elstree where they film the show and we both had a couple of independent meetings with the producers and the writers because they were so anxious to get the chemistry right. It's kind of like lovers; they're so co dependent they really needed to click. So we met in a room at one of the final meetings and both strangely enough…"

[RS] "…fell in love with each other straight away!"

[RS] "Yeh, we clicked. And when we read together for the first time we were aware that when you read, you have a pace and style in the way you deliver dialogue. It's either very tricksy, technical, fumbly, but we were coming at it from the same place so that was great and it worked for us straight away."

What were your first moment like on the Square?
[RS] "We were so racked with nerves I can't remember! It's so nerve-wracking to come into a show like this. It's impossible to be expected to be the best you can be on your first day because you're so nervous."

[SJ] "And also, we were having to come in and take over the Vic, so it wasn't as if we could come in and disappear under the Cafe counter."

[RS] "Because we're not just wallflower characters, we're huge characters and we were aware of that - there was a huge responsibility."

[SJ] "But we had each other, so it was a lot better!"

[RS] "I felt much happier that Sam was there, it made it a lot easier. But after two days there – the pace of the place is so fast – that you learn everything in a couple of days. By day three you know how it works, it's so fast."

[SJ] "Now we're starting to come into a time where we're delivering scenes and we know who we're playing. The danger is that when you've got quite heavy storylines, you have to be really careful about who the character is and how you're colouring them. You need to be quite ambiguous in the first couple of weeks because you haven't made important decisions yet. It's a really rocky time, you don't want to commit to yourself too much until you find out their pace and their style."

And didn't the writers model your character on the Krays? Was that pitched to you when you initially auditioned?
[SJ] "It's interesting, it wasn't actually pitched in terms of 'this is what we want'."

[RS] "It's kind of organic, it grew.

[SJ] "I suspect there must be definite intention with the double names. I don't think that's a coincidence; I think instinctively they probably had that up their sleeves but weren't wanting to say 'this is what we want' because that's a big thing to say."

[RS] "It'd be too obvious. If you're reading for a casting and it's that obvious, you re going to probably read it as a gangster."

[SJ] "And these are females and; they're inherently dysfunctional in an interesting way. They are quite masculine, they're physically intimidating. They use their sexuality to get what they want but they're also, they're physically scary - they're not scared of a fight, they re not scared of confrontation, verbal or physical but there's something quite chilling about them. They're quite dark."

[RS] "They'll stand up to a man as well as another man would stand up to a man. They really don't care. They'll front out any man."

[SJ] "There's a strange loyalty - there's the Kray thing – 'don't cross my sister'."

[RS] "If someone is to cross one sister, the other will get in their way."

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