EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace - Kat Slater - has announced she is expecting her first child.

"I'm really excited - Dave and I are very happy about our news. This is something I've always wanted," she said in a statement today. "It's amazing to think that by November, I'll have my own little person to look after."

Shane Richie, her onscreen husband Alfie Moon, said: "I've known about Jessie's pregnancy for a while now so I'm really pleased she's fine and it's out in the open. As Alfie would say, I'm over the moon."

It is unclear yet how the soap will handle Wallace's pregnancy, or if it will be featured at all. One rumour doing the rounds is that she'll fall pregnant with Andy Hunter's baby as part of an ongoing storyline.