EE: Sam Mitchell (Daniella Westbrook)

[SpursFan1902]

Thanks, Face. That should be interesting...

[SpursFan1902]

So I watched the Sam Mitchell special...it was very interesting. Thanks for putting it up, Face. I learned alot, laughed alot (mostly at Phew in his younger days) and enjoyed looking at Ricky when he was younger. One thing I learned is that this Danniella woman is just as irritating in real life as she is as Sam. I like Kim better...not so flashy and ...well. not so yuck! I don't by any stretch of the imagination think that she is gone, but I am glad they took her away on Friday!

[faceless]

Danniella Westbrook says goodbye to EastEnders... weeks after explosive return
By Lizzie Smith
19th September 2009

Leaving so soon? Daniella Westbrook is to leave EastEnders at Christmas when her three-month contract expires. Westbrook's explosive return to EastEnders after an absense of nine years was eagerly awaited by fans. But it has emerged that she is already set to leave the show - with her character Sam Mitchell being written out of the plot in an explosive storyline at Christmas. The former drug addict signed a three-month contract, which BBC bosses have confirmed there are no plans to renew.

The 35-year-old is set to start filming her final scenes in the next few weeks. Those currently on screen were filmed back in June. A spokeswoman told the MailOnline that there had never been plans for Dannielle to make a permanent return, and that the door was being kept open so she could always reappear in the future. 'We are not going into the exact details as we don't want to spoil the storyline for our viewers but Danniella's contract has not been cut short - in fact it has been extended slightly.' She added: 'We have been thrilled with how Sam Mitchell's return has been received with our audience and hope that they continue to enjoy her storylines over the next few months.'

On September 4 viewers saw Danniella's character return to Albert Square from Brazil, where she had fled after being accused of the murder of Dirty Den. Sam is now languishing in jail, hoping for a reunion with ex-husband Ricky Butcher.

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Now there's a surprise! I've not seen a single positive comment about her return, so why didn't the producers realise this was a mistake?

[eefanincan]

Ah! You beat me to the punch.... I just came in here to post that article

I'll not be sorry to see the end of her character!

[Skylace]

Thank god! I've not heard a single positive thing either. Not shocked at all and I am glad to see the back of her. Lord knows the front is ugly enough.

[pirtybirdy]

Well, I hope if Sam ever comes back again, they bring back Kim Metcalf. I think that was her name. It's funny, but when the new Sam first came on, I didn't like her, because I liked the original Sam, and I still like the original Sam, but Daniella Westbrook to me just isn't the same. It's like she is a whole new person, so I like the second Sam. She grew on me.

[SpursFan1902]

I am sorry that Sam is leaving, but not that Daniella is leaving. I like the Sam character as Kim played her and it think that the weakness that Peggy has for her opens up all kinds of stories for the two of them, but if Daniella is the only actess, then Buh Bye Sam. YIPPEE at seeing the back of Daniella. As a friend of mine always says...."She just rubs me the wrong way..."

[eefanincan]

OK--- I'm finally caught up on my EE------------ OMG is this woman a horrible actress! I can't believe how bad she is. Not sure she could act her way out of a paperbag

[SpursFan1902]

[Skylace]

As I said, a paperbag acts better!

[pirtybirdy]

Hopefully when she leaves again, they won't bring her back again unless it's Kim Metcalf.

[faceless]

Daniella Westbrook slates her critics and says.. I'm just glad to be alive
Lara Gould,
27/09/2009
mirror.co.uk

It's the comeback to end all comebacks. When Danniella Westbrook returned to Albert Square this month it capped a remarkable return for the actress who once feared she wouldn’t live to see 30. But while ratings have rocketed following her return as EastEnder Sam Mitchell, some cruel critics have stuck the knife in – focusing on Danniella’s changed appearance.

The 35-year-old actress isn’t at all bothered. “I don’t care what people say about my looks,” she says. “I know I’m never going to win any awards for being beautiful. They’ve said I look older and less attractive. But they can say what they like because it’s water off a duck’s back to me. I’m 20 years older and after what I put my body through what am I supposed to look like – a teenager? I’m bloody lucky to be alive. Every day I wake up and think, ‘Thank God I’m here and in one piece’. That feeling doesn’t fade. I could be dead now. I just feel lucky to still be here.”

It is 20 years since Danniella made her soap debut, as Grant and Phil Mitchell’s fresh-faced 15-year-old sister. The years in between have been quite a rollercoaster. At one point she attempted suicide while in the grip of a £400-a-day addiction to cocaine and nearly lost custody of her son Kai, who is now 13. But happily these days life is very different for Danniella, who also has a daughter Jodie, eight, with businessman husband Kevin Jenkins.

“My life is pretty boring now,” she laughs, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I shut the front door and I’m mum. I do the school run, go to Tesco and I walk my dogs. I’ve been sober for nine years in March. We don’t even have a drop of alcohol in the house. Weekends are spent watching Strictly or having a barbecue. There’s no temptation with drugs because I’m not in an environment where they are. The closest I come to coke these days is the bottled variety at the kids’ birthday parties. There’s no chance of slipping up because there’s no temptation. I’m 35. Can you imagine me in a nightclub?”

Danniella, who has admitted taking her first line of cocaine when just 14, has Kevin to thank for turning her life around. But she also attends support meetings for former drug addicts when she feels the need. “I was in LA last week and I went to a meeting every single day,” she says. “It’s so different out there. The meetings were held on the beach in the sunshine. I don’t go to meetings every week. It just depends how I’m feeling and helps keep you focused.”

Her spiral into drugs accelerated when she landed the role of Sam in 1990…and a £100,000-a-year salary. Within five years she had gone from TV golden girl to hopeless cocaine addict. Her story has become a warning about the dark side of fame and Danniella can’t help drawing parallels between her life and that of troubled ex-Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona.

“My heart goes out to Kerry,” says Danniella, who blew more than £250,000 on drugs, as well as destroying the flesh between her nostrils. “I’ve met her and I really liked her. I don’t know the ins and outs of what’s going on with her. But I find it so sad because it’s like seeing myself back then. I think she’s a good mum, but she should get help if she needs it. When I was at the height of my illness the world and his wife had something to say about me. It doesn’t help. I know it’s a cliché but Kerry has to want to get better for herself. I should know, I’ve been there. I tried rehab several times but it was only when I accepted I wasn’t in control any more that I started to get better. No one else can do it for you. She’s a good girl and I hope she can do it.”

It is Danniella’s third outing as hapless Sam. In the latest twist Sam has returned to Walford from Brazil, where she’d been working as a stripper while on the run for the murder of Queen Vic landlord Den Watts. She was just 15 when she was first cast as the teenage tearaway. However, success came at a price and five years later her drug-taking forced her to leave the soap. She was given a second chance five years later in 1995 after a spell in rehab. But she could not kick her addiction to cocaine and her contract was terminated a year later in 1996.

In 2000 the full extent of the ravages of her five-gram-a-day addiction became clear when she was photographed at the National TV Awards with a gaping hole where her septum – the flesh between her nostrils – should have been. “I don’t look at pictures of that time because I don’t want to think about it,” she says. “You can’t live in the past. I try not to think about those times because it’s not who I am any more. But sometimes I look at my stepdaughter Jordan, who’s 15 now, and I can’t believe how young I was then. I was a child in an adult’s world. It was a case of too much, too young.”

EastEnders still loved Sam and in 2002 Kim Medcalf took the role for a time. Then in May this year it was announced that Danniella would be stepping back into Sam’s stilettos. “I’m so grateful they gave me another chance,” says Danniella. “I’d had five years off to bring up my kids. I said to my husband that I was ready to get back out there. Literally a week later the call came in from EastEnders.”

So what was it like returning to the studios in Elstree which she had left in disgrace nine years earlier? “I was nervous and it felt like the first day back at school,” she says. But my scenes were with Steve McFadden and Barbara Windsor and when we got going it was just like old times. I grew up on EastEnders and lots of the old crew are still there . I just want to do them proud. I’m not a teenage girl any more.” Sam will be off again by Christmas but Danniella says the door has been left open for another return. “If they’d have me, I’d go back in a flash,” she says. “One of the best things has been people coming up to me in the street and saying they’re glad to see me back.”

With her career back on track, Danniella now hopes to complete her family with another baby. “I’d love to have another one,” she smiles. “If it happens, it happens. I just want to be the best mum I can. My son’s 13 now and my daughter’s eight. I don’t know what they’ll be like as adults because their personalities haven’t fully formed yet. They haven’t seen the problems I went through and I try to keep them shielded from a lot of it. But I hope they’ll be able to talk to me if they had a problem with anything. We’re a close family and home is where my heart is these days.”

[SpursFan1902]

Yeah, that's great....she needs to be off the square...or take acting lessons!

[eefanincan]

I doubt the lessons will help, Spurs. Her leaving the square, however, means we no longer have to see her acting

[Aja]

I can't stand the horrible non acting Biatch