EastEnders’ Emma Barton says Honey Mitchell will face ‘worst care scenario’

EastEnders star Emma Barton has teased that her character, Honey Mitchell, will face some “worst-case scenario” scenes but has defended Ronni Ancona’s Bea Pollard, who drags Honey into the dark storyline.

As Bea’s revenge on the Mitchell family gets underway, Emma’s character Honey is set to struggle – not just against Bea, but against her conflicted feelings for her. As Emma says, Honey knows Bea has done wrong, but still thinks of her as a friend and finds it hard to get past that.

Things are about to get very dire for Honey amidst her battle between her heart and her head, as recent spoilers show Bea continue to target Honey’s husband Billy Mitchell. Ahead of Bea’s exit from the BBC soap, she vows to come between Billy and his wife Honey once more. And before that, Emma answered some big questions about how his effects Honey…

At the start of the week, Honey and Billy’s relationship is on the rocks following their failed date. How is Honey feeling in her relationship with Billy at this current time?

It’s a tough one because don’t forget Honey is currently very hormonal and very peri-menopausal, and she is doubting herself. She is doubting who she is as a woman, and I think the signal she’s got from Billy, and especially after this failed date, is maybe she’s not attractive anymore. Maybe he doesn’t fancy her anymore, and that’s really hard for her to process. Their relationship feels quite flat, and she doesn’t really know what to do.

She’s been given advice from Nicola to play it cool, and Bea. We also have to remember that Honey has never had a best friend before, so she is welcoming Bea’s advice. It’s really clouding her judgement, and it’s a tough one, as she adores and loves Billy but there is something not quite right between them.

The viewers will have seen that Bea is manipulating this situation between Honey and Billy by praying on Honey’s current insecurities. Do you think she has any idea that Bea is doing this, or is she completely oblivious?

I think Honey feels that Bea is really misunderstood, and I think Honey can relate to that. A lot of people throughout Honey’s life have always underestimated her, and thought she was a bit silly. Honey’s always had to fight for approval in some ways, so when we go back years ago to when she finally got the job of being market inspector, that was such a big moment for Honey as she had always felt like she was the last option. I think Honey sees some similarities in Bea, and although everyone has such strong opinions of Bea, Honey sees the good, or rather wants to see the good in her. I think she thinks everyone treats Bea unfairly.

Bea is doing her best to drive a wedge between Honey and Billy. Does Honey recognise that?

Honey definitely knows that there is no love lost between Billy and Bea, and she is constantly trying to convince Billy to warm to her. Honey is people pleasing, and trying to make them both be friends. After the ladder accident, and after everyone accused Bea of being the culprit, I think Honey has been trying to make Billy give her another chance. With the credit card debacle, a lot of the money Bea spent was on gifts for Honey, so I think she is trying to see the good in the bad, and trying to convince Billy to also. When I say it out loud, I think Honey has been a bit silly! [Laughs] But they say love is blind, and she cares for her friend, and she makes excuses for her behaviour.

Later, Honey is stunned when Bea reveals that Billy and Phil tried to pay her to leave Walford, and Bea drops the bombshell that Billy tried to sleep with her. How does Honey feel in that moment?

This is the worst-case scenario that anyone could be put in. It’s so embarrassing for Honey, and it’s s humiliating as she feels she has been let down by the two closest people to her. Her husband, and what she believes is her best friend. She’s thinking, 1) ‘why on earth would you announce this in a public place’, and secondly, she’s thinking ‘what is going on?!’ Her world has come crashing down in an instant, and she doesn’t know what to do.

Billy has cheated on Honey in the past, so do you think there is any element of her that would believe Bea?

I think so. As they’ve just come off the back of a failed date, and they haven’t had this closeness in their relationship, and that togetherness, she starts to think that he might have gone looking elsewhere.

Whilst we can’t say much about the fallout of the storyline, there is set to be some very dramatic scenes between Honey, Billy and Bea in the coming weeks. How was it been working with Ronni and Perry on this storyline?

It’s brilliant. I couldn’t have wished to be working with anyone else on this story. When the cameras stop rolling, we have such a giggle, but it’s been a dream, and I’ve loved every minute of it.