Samantha Womack: 'EastEnders baby plot stayed truthful'

Former EastEnders star Samantha Womack has insisted that she is "proud" of the work she did in the soap's controversial baby swap storyline.

The BBC show sparked a row earlier this year when Womack's character Ronnie Branning was seen losing her newborn son James to cot death, before switching him with Kat Moon's healthy child Tommy in her grief-stricken state.

Ronnie has since been jailed for her actions in the conclusion to the story, while in real life, Womack has left EastEnders and landed a stage role in South Pacific.

Despite tabloid reports that she was unhappy over the tragic baby plot, Womack has now explained that she was pleased with the way the storyline progressed as she worked closely with the show's bosses to ensure it felt "truthful".

Reflecting on her soap departure, Womack told the Evening Standard: "I went almost straight into rehearsals [for South Pacific], so I haven't had much time to process anything. But those last few months at EastEnders felt like a hurricane. The whole 'Babygate' thing was like a circus and I was caught in the middle of it."

Discussing the plot, she continued: "I'm fiercely proud of what I did. In the end, I left because I would have been replicating what I'd done before and I'm no good when I'm stale. I lose heart. I don't think I would have been able to generate those kinds of performances any more. It seemed like a natural place to end it.

"I had a great relationship with the executive producer Bryan Kirkwood. He knew that I had to believe in what I was doing. There were meetings where I would say, 'Can we change this, or do this differently, because it doesn't feel too great for me'. And he always wanted to keep me in a place where it was truthful for me."

Womack added that she is relishing her new stage project after four years of playing Ronnie.

"It's challenging and exciting. I'm terrified actually," she said. "More terrified about something than I've been for a very long time. But I think that's good. I think it proves that I was right to leave [EastEnders] because clearly I had become too safe.

"Yes, I could have stayed and bought a nice big house but I'd stopped learning and I still want to. Even though I've been working most of my life, it feels like I've only just started to find my feet."

> EastEnders cleared by Ofcom over baby swap plot
> Samantha Womack: 'Part of me misses EastEnders, Ronnie'
> Read all the latest EastEnders news

Watch Ronnie's memorable EastEnders moments in the video below: