EastEnders’ Aunt Babe is "ruthless".
The Carter family will discover their wayward aunt’s illegal side job next week when some of her hash cakes end up in the hands of young Tiffany Butcher and with the police on her trail, actress Annette Badlands says her character will do anything to keep her business running.
Aunt Babe decides to hide her cannabis in Dean Wicks’ salon but when his mum Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) finds out she becomes enraged with Babe. However, Babe retaliates by threatening to reveal Shirley’s secret, that she’s Mick Carter’s mother, to the rest of the family.
Annette told Digital Spy: "[Babe] has the front of being jolly, as she does have a sense of humour and she’s bouncy and bubbly, but here I tried to be very angry.
"Babe can’t let that out, she has to rein that anger in and use it in some other way. She won’t expose herself by being furious, so she suppresses it and torments Shirley with what she may do next."
Quizzed if Babe would go through with revealing Shirley’s secret, the actress said: "Sadly yes, I think she is that ruthless. She loves Shirley, but she also needs to protect herself."
Annette also teased a major Carter storyline will take centre stage at Christmas.
She added of her character: "Everyone has a dark side somewhere and there are still things that you don’t know about her."