EastEnders’ Diane Parish admits Denise’s psychosis storyline was “daunting”
"Going to a place of psychosis and understanding that meant sort of almost leaving myself in a way."
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It’s been a year of major storylines for EastEnders, with the fallout from The Six’s Christmas actions continuing to have repercussions to this day.
But one of The Six that we saw continuing to struggle with her actions in a major way was Denise Fox (Diane Parish), who not only had to reckon with her husband Jack’s (Scott Maslen) affair with Stacey (Lacey Turner) but also had to stay in a mental institution after being sectioned.
The emotional scenes were “daunting”, Parish admitted to RadioTimes.com in an exclusive chat on the red carpet for this year’s National Television Awards (NTAs).
When asked about how it felt to tap into that big storyline and that side of her beloved character, Parish said: “You know what, I really, really appreciated being offered the opportunity to do it because mental health is such an important topic. But it was also quite daunting.
“I wanted to do it justice because it’s a huge issue, all over the world at the moment. It touches every family, it blights every family.”
She continued: “But going to a place of psychosis and understanding that meant sort of almost leaving myself in a way, it’s quite isolating. So, it was quite hard to sort of do, hard to shake off. But I’d be lying if I said I weren’t having fun when I was doing it, because I did actually really have fun doing it.
“But for me, when it came to the bit when I was sectioned, what broke my heart when I watched it back was watching what Scott [Maslen] and Zaraah [Abrahams] were giving. Because without other people’s reactions – because Denise doesn’t know what’s going on, she’s in her own world of what’s happening.
“But it’s seeing the reality of how it was affecting the other actors is what made it real and what made those scenes heartbreaking. Everybody plays a part in it, you can’t do it on your own.”
Maslen also added: “Everybody was so tuned into what needed to be done and that’s what we’ve learnt pretty much, I think that’s where we’re in a strong position now. Because you can get lost in these jobs because different people have different ways of working.
“But when you understand that it works best a certain way and that you’re a player in – it’s like composition music. You’re brass, you’re strings, altogether we come together and make music. And we’ve been making really good music because we are attentive to the story.”
As of now, there’s no telling just what the future for Jack and Denise looks like, but we do know that the long-running soap is set to mark their 40th anniversary in epic style with a live episode.
The announcement was made just days before the NTAs, with the episode set to air in February 2025.
On the news of the special live episode, executive producer Chris Clenshaw said: “Whilst we’re still keeping the finite details of the 40th close to our chest, I can promise that it will be an unmissable week full of shocking twists that will change Albert Square, and the lives of those who live in it, forever.”
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.
