Acting Strong
Resilience for Stage Ready, Mind Ready Artists. Inspiring interviews with successful actors and artists exploring how they maintain positive mental wellbeing and resilience through the highs and lows of their career.
Created by Generation Arts. This production is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Hosts: Ali Godfrey & Unique Spencer
Acting Strong
Patsy Palmer: from the East End to Eastenders, 30 years as an iconic soap character
Patsy Palmer is an Actor, DJ, Wellness Advocate and Cultural Icon, best known for her unforgettable role as Bianca Jackson in EastEnders — a character she has embodied for over 30 years, earning her a place in British television history. Patsy's background and career is a story underpinned by resilience.
In this episode, Patsy shares honest reflections on growing up in the East End of London, her early experiences in the acting industry, and the importance of creating space and opportunity for working class actors in today’s cultural landscape.
She speaks candidly about the realities of being seen as an “icon,” what that label means to her, and how she’s carved out a different kind of life in Malibu — one that keeps her grounded, passionate, and connected to her roots.
Hosts & Guests:
Ali Godfrey (Host)
Unique Spencer (Host)
Patsy Palmer (Guest)
Send us a Text Message with your feedback, questions or requests for future episodes
Email: actingstrong@generationarts.org.uk
www.actingstrong.com
Social Media:
@ActingStrong
Instagram: @GEN_ARTS
Facebook: @GenerationArts
Produced & Edited by: Ali Godfrey
Acting Strong is brought to you by Generation Arts and this production is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Hello everyone, you are listening to Acting Strong. It's a podcast that helps explore resilience for stage-ready, mind-ready artists. It's brought to you by Generation Arts. We are your hosts.
Unique:I'm Unique a professional actor
Ali:, and I'm Ali founder of Generation Arts. In today's episode, we're talking to Patsy Palmer about her career playing one of the UK's most iconic characters, Bianca Inistenders, and about the resilience her long-standing career has required.
Unique:This production is supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Let's get started Now. You can hear me, yes, I can hear you. What's it sounding like? Your side sounds all right, my side yeah, it's working, it's perfect.
Patsy:I was talking about this, uh, the other day I did an interview and I was just talking about how working-class uh, children and people still people, adults just will never get the chance to do some of the acting stuff that some people do and it doesn't matter it it, it doesn't even matter what background. I mean I feel like it's just, um, a certain type will never really get to do the stuff that other people get to do. We'll get to do EastEnders, which is amazing, and we'll get to do, like, probably, stereotypical roles in other things. Um, I've gone on to do because I've had a name from EastEnders, not necessarily because if I would have gone for the audition I might have got the role. Do you understand what I mean by that? Yeah, for sure. So there's still a big stigma and so it's great to to, yeah, talk, talk about it and and give advice.
Patsy:I went to Anna Scher's, which was a children's theatre in Islington which was for mums and dads that couldn't afford to send their kids to drama school. So she was a huge um hero of mine and she passed away, unfortunately, last year, but she taught every class herself and it was run like a charity. So she was a really amazing woman and she gave so many of us a chance. You know, without her and, I guess, without charities like yours people like you who are willing to give people a chance it's really difficult still.
Unique:Before you went to Anna Scher's, did you ever want to be an actor, or was it just something?
Patsy:yeah , no, no I already was.
Patsy:was on this. I went for an audition when I was six years old with my brother, um, and just met, got into the show by accident. It was Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and I got into it by accident and um and it from there I got into Grange Hill, I went to Anna Shares. It just all sort of happened by accident for me really, but you know, there are no accidents. I do feel like everything is like perfect. So I always yeah, I loved it from the minute I started working in the theatre. I really loved it. I love the environment because it didn't feel as harsh as being at school, because I got bullied at school. So for me, you know, they were all singing and dancing on the stage. I didn't do singing and dancing.
Patsy:Anna Scher's was very much predominantly acting and improvisation, which was great for kids like us because we had very creative minds. So it was really good to put those minds into a really creative space. They'd probably call it adhd now or something whatever. They would give it labels. There'd be a load of labels in that room. But, um, you know, the point is we were very creative children and we needed an outlet and a positive outlet and that's what she gave us. And being around all of the singing and dancing and I love music it just really made me realize that I just wanted to be in that environment and I just didn't want to be in East London in school getting asked if I wanted to have a fight every lunchtime. It just wasn't really for me. You know, I was really scared.
Unique:That really sounds like the east of the London that I come from too. Patsy, nothing changes.
Patsy:Well, I know that's sad to hear, but that's just also kids, you know. I don't think that. You know, maybe worse things happen in other schools. I don't know, I'm not, but that was just my experience. I don't really know what goes on. I hope that that it's not going on, because it's really not very nice for the kids that are getting bullied. It's probably not nice for the bullies either. I reckon a lot of these kids are pressurized as well, but I definitely felt safer in the theater, yeah, um, so I just continued it through there and then I got EastEnders, as you know what it's like there. It's never changed. So I've been doing that for 30 years and it's looked exactly the same.
Ali:And what was that process like for when you got the job on EastEnders?
Patsy:Basically, they came to the theatre school so we'd have auditions every week. There'd be like a list up on the board written. There was a list of who was up for the audition. Tony McHale came to the theatre, who was the producer at the time that created the Jackson family. I was messing around, actually, because I wasn't on the board for the audition. I was only, I was 21 and they wanted a 16 year old to play Bianca. So I was just with my friend like chatting, messing around and um, and then he said he wanted to see me and we had to do like an improvisation kind of monologue thing and I remember doing that and then I got the job. But I I just really only wanted a car really then for my um, for my little boy. I was a single mum, so I just wanted a, a car with four doors.
Patsy:Honestly and then my world opened up. But I think that in any creative industry acting, creative arts, music I think that the the world opens up for young people, you know, because you get to meet so many different people, um, you know, with different jobs. I mean, I was at EastEnders but I did get to travel, you know, I got paid well, so it gave me resource to be able to do things, to be stable, you know, to buy a home, to have some stability in my life and many more things. I've been very, very fortunate. So I think that it really should be an opportunity for any child, any young person, no matter where you're from, what walk of life. If you're really passionate about wanting to be in the creative industry, then I think that you know there should be more doors open really.
Unique:I know for you it's just been something that you've been doing for a very long time, but I think for me, growing up and obviously watching you on tv and then being at the 40th anniversary of EastEnders with you the other day, like was just like mind-blowing for me, like I was, like I cannot believe from being a little girl watching these people on tv to now like Patsy Palmer coming over you're right love.
Unique:I'm like this is insane and like I know for you it's just like a job, but like you're a big inspiration to be able to see someone like yourself that comes from the same area that I come from, comes from the same type of background, and and have this longevity like it's incredible and I was wondering what it feels like to play such an iconic character.
Patsy:It feels like I'm going to work and that's what it feels like and that's what it is. And it's strange because, as you know, you know you get there and what everybody's seeing on screen is very different to your day's work. You know it's hard work. As you know, we're up very early in the morning, we we work many hours on set, we learn humongous amounts of scripts, so it really does feel like going to work and I and I. But I do feel very fortunate as well where I work because I am part of such a big family.
Patsy:So I don't really feel like how people expect you to feel about playing the character. Like, I do appreciate her so much more now I've got older and I do feel so amazed that I've created such a strong character. I just never in a million years would have ever dreamt that I could have done that and that she would have been received the way that she has been. I feel very lucky, you know, and fortunate that people really love her and and really like her. I think she represents still a lot of people, a lot of women in particular, and also probably men in that situation that are just always fighting for survival Like always, you know and she gets it wrong. But I don't think she really means to. I think she doesn't ever have time to think. I think she's just fighting for survival and I think that's.
Patsy:I feel like maybe when I started, that sort of was a lot more part of what I knew in my life when I started. But very quickly I didn't have to fight for survival anymore because I had a really good job. So, ironically, being in EastEnders gave me a chance to stop that. But the character still remains. You know she still has had to do that and has to do that still to this day. Do you know what I mean? So kind of really weird how people say you know she still has had to do that and has to do that still to this day. Do you know what I mean?
Patsy:so yeah kind of really weird how people say you know, I haven't really, but how much of you like your character? I'm nothing like my character but I do know that feeling. Growing up in the East End where everybody was just on fight or flight, you know, just sort of on survival mode, but not in a bad way, but that's just how it it was. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, 90s in in East London, you know, and probably parts of West and South London working class environments, everyone's very much in fight or flight mode. So I think I do get to enjoy playing her in that in that state I do understand it. So I guess it makes it a little bit easier to to play her really. But I do feel blessed.
Patsy:She used to be a lot funnier. I think as she's got older she's probably had more stress. When I went back there wasn't as much comedy but she was always really funny and I think that's another thing that, coming from a working class background, we're blessed with that humor because, uh, there was a lot of humor growing up where I grew up. Yeah, even though there was a lot of like hard things, there was a lot of humor. I always think as well, like that's why I say that there should be a lot more doors open and there should have been a lot of humor. I always think as well, like that's why I say that there should be a lot more doors open and there should have been a lot more places that kids could have gone.
Patsy:Because me and my husband always say that you know a lot of our friends, that we all grew up in the same area, we've known each other our whole lives. But we always talk about people and certain people and and people that we grew up with some are, no, no longer around with us. They passed away from, you know, drug overdoses or getting into trouble or suicide. But you know, just saying that these people we grew up with were so funny, you know, so quick-witted. They should have been writers, they should have been directors, you know they should have been comedians. They should have had the opportunity. They could have been rappers or, you know, songwriters, singers. They never had these opportunities and when kids don't have these opportunities they fall into bad, bad things. You know, because also their minds are so super active.
Unique:I do believe that they get really bored where would you say that your um resilience comes from then? Where would you say that? Still, that get up and go? That's still like. I'm still going for what I want.
Patsy:I'm still going to continue well you know, one of the best parts of being a young actor and one of the worst parts of being a young actor is the rejection yeah.
Patsy:I think that from a very young age I got a lot of knockbacks. So for every 20 auditions I went on, I may have only ever got one or none. You know what I mean? Going on the tube everywhere all around London. From it, you know, like I'd go from one to the other to the other, just on the tube. It's amazing how we did it all without a phone, isn't it? Yeah, it's true, we did. It was incredible, really. What great times you know, and I would just travel everywhere. I'd have a bit of paper and it would be like this one was at 10 o'clock, this was at one o'clock, that was at three o'clock, you know, and you'd just go everywhere and you'd meet casting directors and you'd have good chats and the the best thing about that, I think now that I don't like now is the self-tapes. I don't like self-tapes. I don't, um, I can't do it. Yeah, I can't really do it. So I think that I'll miss out a lot because I don't like it. I like to sit down with people and chat with people and work through stuff.
Patsy:I've worked since I was a kid. I've always known that I've wanted to work. I've had to work. I think, being brought up in a working class background. That's what you get brought up. You leave school. I left school 16. I didn't have many. I only had drama. I was the first year to do GCSE, so I learned nothing really at school. I just got a drama GCSE and art GCSE and an English and English lit. That was it. So I couldn't even go to art college because I needed maths for some reason and I was never gonna. I'm discalculus, so I was never gonna have that. So I didn't really have any opportunity really and so I just worked. You, we just knew we were leaving school. I got a job in a life insurance place in Holloway Road. It was awful. Talk about knowing what you don't want to do. I got many jobs. I've worked always. I used to just go up and down Bethnal Green Road asking everyone for jobs.
Unique:You know when I was a kid like on the stalls and selling Gucci bags, exactly yeah, Roman Road.
Patsy:I know it's so good though, isn't it? It's amazing who I mean. You'd rather your kids doing that than sitting on their phones. Like you know, I worked on market stalls. I I never wait. I was never a waitress, though, funny enough, I could never do that. That would have been too overwhelming for me. I was all right, just like standing chatting to people, being able to sell things like that way. I would never have been able to take orders or do all that. I just couldn't. My mind wasn't, couldn't have like, I couldn't focus on anything like that.
Patsy:Yeah, so I've always worked, so even now I have to go to work. You know, I was very fortunate. I moved out to the states and I took 10 years off um work. My husband works, so I just did decide that I wanted to be with my little boy, um, through these first years of his life, because I've always worked, worked, worked, worked. So I do feel like you can really burn yourself out. You have to be careful as well, but I do have that resilience from that and I do like it, and now I'm back to work. I feel like I'm fully back to my like enjoying get up and go, get back to work, you know. So I think it's conditioned in you, isn't it?
Unique:you know, when you've got that work ethic and what do you think keeps you like humble and grounded? Because you're, you obviously do live in LA and we, like we have this sort of image of what LA is like.
Patsy:I think gratitude for me is you know, I was met Mary J Blige and Pharrell Williams, dr Dre, all these people that I love and I'm like, wow, like how she feels, maybe, about meeting us at EastEnders. I'm like I can't believe I'm actually standing here talking to Mary J Blige like just dancing. I actually live in Malibu, which, weirdly enough, is very grounded because it's quite far out from LA, sort of like living in the country we. I really live in nature, you know. So I do spend a lot of time in nature, walking, you know just so many like much wildlife, birds and butterflies and all this stuff. It's beautiful, so I do spend a lot of time outside and by the ocean. Um, so I think that just keeps me grounded because, yeah, I'm not sure if I was in LA that I would be there like LA. La do you know what I mean? There are parts I probably would be, but they would probably be more working class parts of.
Patsy:LA. To be honest, I don't really know anyone.
Patsy:I'm not saying that I mean. You know it sounds a bit silly what I'm saying, but do you understand what I mean? I don't understand many parts of LA, so I don't really get. Don't really get it. But Malibu, I get it because it is being in nature. It is the most amazing wildlife. That was something I didn't have as a kid I grew up in Bethnal Green. So for me, I'm just amazed by that. I really am. You know, it's such a beautiful thing. That's another thing that kids in working class areas don't really get the chance to do. Much is to get into nature and it's so important, you know, especially for the busy creative mind. It's super important and I meditate a lot. I meditate every day, I try and well, even if I don't get to do it, because even when times get really bad or the world's overwhelming as it is right now, it just gives you tools and I think being an actress helps you to actually be able to do that. So there's lots of little things that keep you going.
Ali:So Finally, if you had a piece of advice for a young actor who's starting out, or an aspiring actor, or even to yourself when you were young, what would that be?
Patsy:never take it personally. When you don't get an audition, it's not your fault. In a personal sense, you haven't done anything wrong, you know. You're just not right for the part, but you may always get the opportunity to do something else because someone's seen you. Then you know, like a casting director's seen you, you've been seen, so being seen is a great thing. Never, ever, take it personally.
Patsy:Um, and keep going, because the more you're seen and the more people you meet in the industry, people remember you, you know, and there might always be one day they might just be sitting there having a cup of tea and need to cast someone and might you might come into their head and it could change your life. You know, because this industry does change lives. It changes lives, families, it changes generations. You know, it's not only the person that's doing it and it can be good or bad, not to say that it's for everyone. Sometimes I've wanted to give up and I'll never act again, and it has hardships, but it's like any job, isn't it? You know, things are not always going to come easy, you know. For some people it does and that's amazing, and but most people, there's going to be ups and downs and good and bad, and I think the most important thing is to keep going and treat everyone the same. Never treat someone that's making you a cup of tea different to Mary J Blige.
Unique:And, on that note, we just want to thank you so much for coming on. I know your schedule is completely chock-a-block and like it's always back-to-back and you're always on the go, whether you're DJing, whether you're acting, whether you're, you know, looking after family and going back and forth to the states or not. So we really really, really really appreciate your time.
Patsy:You're so welcome and thanks for all the amazing work that you do and, like you know, it's just so amazing. It just if you're open and you understand, you know you can meet some amazing people in this industry. You know that can help and so I just just, you know, never treat anyone any different. You know that person making your tea on set one day could go on to be the biggest film producer in the world. You never know. Absolutely, thank you thank you so much.
Unique:Thank you all right darling each one can teach one, so keep acting strong. Subscribe, spread the word and turn on your notifications.
Ali:The lineup of guests have all tested their resilience, so come see what you can learn.
Unique:Thank you for listening and see you next time. Bye, thank you.
