EastEnders star Lacey Turner has shared her emotional struggle while filming a recent heart-wrenching storyline on the soap.

Having portrayed Stacey Slater since 2004, Lacey returned to the set just weeks after welcoming her third child, Gipsy Olive, to shoot the live episode marking EastEnders’ 40th anniversary.

The dramatic scenes saw the Queen Vic engulfed in flames, with Martin Fowler, played by James Bye, heroically attempting to save ex-partner Stacey, only to be critically injured.

In a gripping moment, paramedics informed Stacey that Martin’s injuries would prove fatal, eliciting a gut-wrenching scream from her character.

Speaking on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, the 37-year-old actress said that her reaction was not merely for the cameras; she felt genuine despair.

“It was hard,” she said. “Every tear that came out of my eye was a genuine sadness. I didn’t rehearse any of that. I physically couldn’t speak. The day after James rang me to that is what they decided – what is going to happen to Martin – I was beside myself.

“I went into work the next day and said, ‘Do I need to be here?’ I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t believe he wanted to go out that way.

“And they are letting him go that way? I wasn’t acting. I was genuinely sad. I couldn’t rehearse because I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t speak, could barely say the lines.”

Lacey, a mum-of-three, opened up about her experience working alongside James for so long, saying there was one final scene where she refused to look at him, knowing she would shed a tear if she did.

Ahead of a pivotal live episode, Lacey shared her strategy for dealing with the struggle, revealing that her way of coping was to pretend it wasn’t happening.

She also conveyed the conflicting feelings of simultaneously not wanting to part ways with her co-star yet being eager to participate in the anniversary show so soon after giving birth in real life.

Lacey provided an insight into her emotional state during the actual filming, saying: “Every single time I said that scene I have not been able to control my emotions and then on the night nothing came. It was so strange. It was like my body was in denial and this is not the last time you two are doing this scene together.

“It is the weirdest thing I have ever experienced, my head hurt, that is how sad I was. The whole week rehearsing that and then come the night, I knew all the lines, I don’t know how with the baby brain, but I just kept thinking ‘don’t muck it up, it’s the last scene, don’t muck it up’. And I didn’t but I was numb. But I never read that scene without crying – it was the strangest thing.”

Despite her personal feelings of numbness, viewers were full of compliments for Lacey’s outstanding live performance.

A fan moved by her dedication commented: “So you’re telling me Lacey Turner filmed a stunt heavily pregnant, gave birth, came back a few weeks later and carried a live episode? Where’s this woman’s pride of Britain award? Get her a knighthood pronto!”

Another person praised the actress: “I have nothing but pure admiration for Lacey Turner. Coming back to EastEnders a few weeks after giving birth to deliver the performance of her life was incredible. Reaching every fibre of her emotion during a LIVE episode isn’t easy. Lacey Turner take a bow.”