It was a dark day in EastEnders when the beloved Heather Trott, played by Cheryl Fergison, was bashed over the head by Ben Mitchell and killed, breaking hearts all across the nation.

Originally introduced as the friend and sidekick of established character, Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), the two became a fan favourite double act, with Shirley’s hard-faced, gruff front being softened by adorably bumbling Heather.

Originally contracted for four episodes, Cheryl ended up starring on the soap for five years and has now shed light on how she was told that Heather would perish.

Appearing on the Six O’Clock Show, being interviewed by hosts Katja Mia and Brian Dowling, the latter brought up how he’d never forgive Ben for murdering Heather, with the former confirming that she was unable to forget, before asking their guest how she found out that the axe was about to fall.

The axeing

‘So we have this thing where you can go up [to the office] on a certain day, and they tell you what your storyline is going to be, and people get taken during the week to find out what’s going on. We always had this thing: ‘Oh, don’t get called on a Friday! You could be in a culling!

‘So Friday came, Linda was in the car, we were gonna go home, and I was called up to the office, and I literally walked in and the executive producer was there, and they had a box of tissues. I could see he’d really quite upset.’

‘I thought, I shouldn’t be coming to this meeting, maybe something’s happened to him, and then that’s when he said, look, Cheryl, we’re really sorry, you know, we’ve got nothing to do with you. It’s just that we want to see other characters evolve, and he was so visibly upset.

‘So I come and handed the tissues to him! I said thank you. I was only supposed to be in for four episodes. I’ve been here 5 years and I’ve done so much.’

Who was Heather Trott?

Upbeat, friendly, George Michael-obsessed yet perennially unlucky in just about every aspect of her life, Heather helped soften the edges of caustic hard-nut Shirley, and her first storyline was deployed when she began a relationship with, and later married, Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi)

Her next plotline saw her get pregnant, while audiences remained firmly in the dark as to who the father was. While ‘whodunnit’ stories tended to be reserved for murders, ‘Enders bosses crafted one around who’d gotten Heather pregnant.

After she gave birth to George Michael (of course) Trott, it was revealed that teenage character, Darren Miller (Charlie G. Hawkins), was the dad following a drunken one-night stand. The reveal proved to be controversial with the large age gap between the characters.

After a whirlwind romance with Andrew Cotton (Ricky Grover), many fans suspected that Heather had finally found true love and would get her happy ending, though this wasn’t to be.

After a clash with Ben Mitchell over his stalking and blackmail of his dad, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), he struck Heather over the head with a photo frame. As she fell, her head collided with the kitchen worktop and she died.

With Phil determined to cover up his son’s heinous crime, he disposed of any evidence, faked a burglary, and left his girlfriend, Shirley, to find her best friend’s body. Shirley was utterly broken and threw herself into finding the murderer, later discovering Ben’s guilt and attempting to drown him.

Though Ben handed himself in to the police and confessed to the crime, Phil and Shirley were torn apart for good, and baby George went to live with his dad, Darren.

Memories of Walford

In her memoir, Behind the Scenes, Cheryl spilled the tea on one of her most iconic episodes, in which Heather and Shirley visited George Michael’s house.

‘You know that episode, where Heather and Shirley go to George Michael’s house? That was based on real life. Once, when walking with Linda and Cliff Parisi in Highgate, they rang the bell and ran away, leaving me to chat to his housekeeper.