Actress Annette Badland Says She Received Death Threats Over Her Villainous Role in ‘EastEnders’

British actress Annette Badland is well-known for portraying the character Babe Smith in the hit television series “EastEnders,” rated one of the BBC’s most-watched programs since its launch in 1985.
However, despite the show’s success, Badland, 74, says her villainous character was not well-received by all viewers.
In a recent interview with the Express, published on Nov. 4, the award-winning film and stage performer said she received death threats over her role in the British soap opera, forcing her to “live in hiding.”
“It’s very disturbing that people can’t divide between your character and yourself, they don’t know you’re acting,” she said, noting that the threatening messages “subsided after about a month.”
“But the security at the [BBC] got involved, the police, they were saying, ‘Don’t tell anyone where you’re going, don’t go out too much, don’t do this, don’t do that,’” she said.
Throughout her time on “EastEnders,” Badland’s character—one of the show’s supporting antagonists—was involved in a number of criminal acts, from taking in young pregnant women to sell their babies to stealing from the local pub, per EastEnders Wiki.
“There are many strands to Auntie Baby,” the actress said with a hearty laugh.
“I always say it’s because she wasn’t loved,” Badland said, referring to the source of her character’s nefarious personality.
“I think Aunt Babe had never been loved for her whole life. And she wanted to be loved and she loved people. And then when it didn’t come back, she got resentful and jealous, [which] led to her acting in the way she did.”
Badland noted that some viewers also struggled to differentiate her from her sinister on-screen role.
“That was very different for me. I’d never, ever, ever had that before, that people really thought you were the person. Most people loved [my character] and enjoyed the naughtiness of it,” she said.
After attending drama school, the actress enrolled in the Actors’ Company, a British theatrical collective co-founded by actor Ian McKellen in 1971. She went on to get her start on the small screen in the mid-1970s, playing roles in British television series such as “The Devil’s Crown,” “Spearhead,” and “Crossroads.”
Throughout the 1980s, Badland appeared in “Bergerac,” a BBC drama starring John Nettles and Terence Alexander, “Troubles and Strife,” “Dramarama,” and “Hale and Pace,” among other shows.
In 2005, the actress landed the role of villain Margaret Blaine in the British sci-fi television series “Doctor Who.” That same year, she starred alongside actor Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s adaptation of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
Badland’s subsequent roles include “Wizards vs. Aliens,” “Outlander,” “Doctors,” “The Crown,” “The Archers,” “Midsomer Murders,” and “Ted Lasso.” More recently, she starred in “Portraits of Dangerous Women,” a comedy-drama that premiered in the UK on Oct. 11.
Speaking to This Is Money in October 2023 about her decades-long career, Badland expressed her appreciation for her profession.
“I don’t have children so my work is probably more important to me than it should be,” she said.
“I enjoy the stimulation of playing different characters, the research involved and the variety. One day I‘ll be flying somewhere to meet fans of Outlander, the next day I’ll be at the Globe Theatre. I love my work.”