Ronni Ancona reveals ‘exciting’ next role after EastEnders and shares ‘very special’ career highlight

Actress and comedian Ronni Ancona is no stranger to impressions and it’s safe to say she’s left a lasting one on EastEnders fans this year after playing the manipulative Bea Pollard.

Here, she talks about the joy of playing the villain, her career highs and what’s next for her after wrapping up in Albert Square…

You’ve been smashing it as Bea in EastEnders….

I was actually very honoured to be approached about it. What was interesting is that they thought it was a perfect part for me because she was a very annoying, deranged, delusional woman. They thought I’d be perfect for it! ‘Great!’, I thought. It was a compliment. 

Bea is quite a complex character. Does that sort of a role appeal? 

It does. Bea is very complicated – I didn’t want to play her as just the villain. She genuinely thinks she’s right. What I think is interesting and nuanced – and what is frightening about people like her – is they’re completely convinced they’re the hero of their own story.

Bea never really thought of herself as a villain – she just thinks everyone else is getting in the way of her happy ending. I was very keen to get that across. Nobody wakes up one morning and decides to become Bea. Somewhere along the line, something has gone very wrong. 

Was the ending part of the fun? 

It’s Single White Female, Gone Girl, Misery all blended up into one denouement. It’s quite an ending! It appealed to me greatly. I was really honoured because I was asked to extend my stint a little bit – but everyone knew where Bea was going to go to. 

Once Bea starts losing control, everything unravels very quickly. Playing someone whose very carefully constructed world is collapsing around her is exhausting but brilliant. Because of EastEnders and their extraordinary schedule, it’s moves fast so when you’re filming it so you can keep hold of that emotion in real time. 

Was it surreal to play a role in EastEnders after famously doing impressions of the characters? 

It’s like I’ve committed crimes on Albert Square before but in sketches – Bea was my first chance to do it properly! It was very surreal – and quite terrifying… for about 10 minutes and then I realised everyone was so welcoming. It was like joining a family who have been together for 40 years.

When did you realise that you had a gift for impressions? 

When I was a kid. It’s a horrible cliché, but I was a bit clumsy and awkward, not one of the popular kids. I think I inadvertently made people laugh – I think I did it to be liked.

I love if they’ve ever brought people pleasure. All I wanted to do with the impressions was to make people laugh but I’m not desperately proud of it. It’s a bit of a useless skill – at the scene of an accident: ‘Let me through, I can do Olivia Coleman!’ [laughs]. 

But they were great times with me and Alistair [McGowan] – we caught the zeitgeist. It was the right time to do a show like The Big Impression because it was at the beginning of the new celebrity culture that was emerging. 

Do you think a programme like that could work today in a world with social media? 

I think it would be really difficult, because we did these little comedic fantasies about what celebrities’ lives were like and of course you can’t do that now because everybody knows what everybody is doing.

We used to imagine what Posh and Becks were saying – that they were talking about their Isas and financial investments. You can’t do that anymore. A lot of things have become a parody of themselves already. 

Have you ever had someone be offended by an impression?

In the early days I think people were a little bit offended by being done and then when the show became quite popular, we’d get agents asking: ‘Will you do my client?’, which was quite the change.

I think the men were more upset about being done than the women, which is quite interesting. But I think it’s more to do with the fact that impressionists hold on to something or they’ll see something that the person is not aware they’re doing – and then they would become self-conscious about that particular thing. 

Is there a type of role you haven’t yet played that you’d like to?

I do tend to play the sort of women who would walk up, ring the doorbell and stand on the doorstep and ruin everyone’s life by delivering some appalling news.

Bizarrely, I don’t think I’ve ever played a wife in anything, so maybe I’d like to play someone adorable – like the woman next door. That might be quite nice. But I do love playing villainesses though.

Does any reality TV appeal to you? 

I love watching reality TV shows but the strange thing that people don’t know about me is that I’m quite shy. I’m amazed by people on reality shows and the way they’re so confident and out there – good on them! But I’m horribly self-conscious. 

What do you get most recognised for? 

With EastEnders, people recognise Bea, but prior to that I’d often get recognised for people I’d done impressions of who I vaguely look like.

What’s next in the pipeline? 

I’m in a World War II film called Think of England out in cinemas in the autumn. I’m in another film, which is quite exciting, called Fortitude. I’m not in it much but my gosh it’s got Nicholas Cage, Michael Sheen and Sir Ben Kinglsey – all these huge stars. 

I’ve got another series of my podcast with Hal Cruttenden, Hal and Ronni in Pieces. And I’ve got a production company with Sally Phillips called Captain Dolly, we’re producing a mockumentary film.

Would you go back to EastEnders if the opportunity to play Bea again arose? 

You know what? I had such a lovely time with her, she was so delicious to play, so never say never. 

What is your proudest achievement? 

Different things! I used to do some really surreal flights of fancy on QI back in the day. I was proud of my character in Last Tango In Halifax, who was drunk all the time – which is quite difficult to play.

I think there were only two scenes where she was sober! I love the writer Sally Wainwright so much, that was such an honour to do – with such extraordinary scripts and an extraordinary cast.

And a real career highlight? I got to play in a film with Catherine O’Hara. That was very, very special for me working with her.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? 

Sally Phillips and I are very keen on producing and possibly being in comedy films. I’m very honoured when I’m asked to do dramas – there are loads of shows I’d love to do and things I’d love to be involved in.

I’d love to create and be a part of a comedy film that really made people laugh because I think that’s a great gift to leave as a legacy.