Oberman: 'Soap life was like Hollywood'

Former EastEnders star Tracy-Ann Oberman has claimed that the soap world is similar to life on "old-style" Hollywood movie sets.

The actress admitted that she often used to draw comparisons to classic films when shooting scenes as Walford's Chrissie Watts, who is best remembered for murdering husband Dirty Den (Leslie Grantham) in the programme's 20th anniversary instalment.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph about serial drama, Oberman explained: "The way the system works is that you're stuck in this studio a long way from anywhere, and you're living, eating and breathing the job.

"You're being driven around on the studio buggy and you're working with the same people. There really is something quite old-style Hollywood studio about it. It kept making me think about what it must have been like to be living on the lot at MGM, waiting to see what your next script was going to be."

She continued: "The way soaps are written is often quite melodramatic - particularly with the storylines I had. They were very theatrical, and there's something quite film noirish about murdering your husband. I often used to think, 'Wow - how would Bette Davis approach this?'"

Oberman is currently promoting her new one-off Radio 4 play, which tells the story of the resentment which allegedly grew between Davis and Joan Crawford when they filmed their 1962 horror movie Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?.