Comedian to appear as a Walford love interest...

Here's Lucy Porter in her new role – as a soap opera siren.

The stand-up plays a new character called Rita, who ends up going on a date with taxi driver Mitch Baker, played by Roger Griffiths.

Their get-together was engineered by the cabbie’s daughter, Bailey, who sets them up in a bid to cheer her dad up.

It’s a rare TV acting role for Porter, although she is a well-known as a panel show and stand-up guest on the with appearances on the likes of Live at the Apollo, Would I Lie to You and Have I Got News for You to her name.

She’s also a keen quizzer, fronting a podcast on the subject, Fingers On Buzzers, with Chaser Jenny Ryan, and has appeared on several celebrity editions of quiz shows.

But her screen acting career so far amounts to little more than cameo in the parents’ evening episode of Outnumbered a decade ago and voicing Kate Middleton on ITV’s short-lived 2008 animate satire Headcases.

But on stage, she starred in the Edinburgh Fringe and West End version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest alongside Christian Slater.

Her appearance in Eastenders will air on March 4 – but it is not yet known if Rita will be a recurring character.

Published: 23 Feb 2022