Former EastEnders star Patsy Kensit has spoken of her time on EastEnders, which she describes as her “dream job” – and would love to return.

The former child star was appearing on ITV’s Love Your Garden with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday, May 25 when she chatted about her long career.

But it was her role as Emma Harding on the BBC One soap opera that really got her fired up. The host reeled off her TV and film credits as he said: “Such a contrast to The Great Gatsby and Bluebirds is EastEnders, which I think you rather enjoyed didn’t you?”

Patsy’s face lit up as she replied: “Oh my God, it was my dream job, I loved it, it was wonderful and brilliant.” Alan cut in: “You were a bit of a nasty piece of work weren’t you?”

Patsy continued: “Yes she was tricky and unreliable and a bit narcissistic… you get to say all the things you can’t really say in real life.”

After playing a clip Patsy hinted that she’d love to go back saying: “She needs to be there to cause some trouble.”

She added: “The whole set up there is like a family, they are people at the top of their game. They are delivering every day pages and pages of dialogue, it was my dream job and…” she trailed off as she put her hands together as if in prayer.

Patsy made her EastEnders debut in January 2023 when she entered the soap as Lola Pearce’s estranged mum, Emma Harding. Billy (Perry Fenwick) and Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) tracked her down in the run-up to her daughter’s wedding to Jay.

After learning she had a granddaughter, Lexi, Emma returned to Albert Square to meet her and reconcile with Lola, watching them from afar as she was too nervous to introduce herself.

She learned about Lola’s brain tumour from a vlog, and began supporting Lexi and Lola by confronting a bully of Lexi’s at school and delivering money anonymously to Lola, all without them knowing who she really was.

Her true identity was eventually revealed in a fiery confrontation with Billy, leaving Emma to explain the heartbreaking reason she wasn’t in Lola’s life as she uncovered Lola’s father’s vicious abuse towards her including throwing a boiling kettle of water over her.

Lola was dubious about her claims, but after seeing her burns and hearing accounts of abuse from Billy, she believed her mum and reconciling the pair worked on building their relationship which was rocked by Lola’s terminal cancer diagnosis.

Emma later told Lola she had received a job offer in America and would be leaving. Lola was furious with her and told her she never wanted to see her again, with the pair never patching things up before Lola’s tragic death.

Viewers saw Emma at Lola’s funeral, where she quietly entered the service to pay tribute to her beloved daughter.