Annette Badland struggled to leave the house during EastEnders stint

Annette Badland learned not to leave the house when she was on 'EastEnders'.

The 72-year-old actress has been a regular on British TV screens for decades but garnered a new generation of fans when she played the part of Babe Smith on the BBC soap opera from 2014 until 2017 and admitted she had to learn to stay at home at certain times to avoid being hounded by schoolchildren.

Speaking on the 'Soap from the Box' podcast, she said: "If you're in people's living rooms frequently, they do know you as the character. On 'EastEnders', people actually spoke it me as my character and it certainly was quite freaky. I learned not to go out when schools were coming out because you get on a tube and there would be three classrooms full of people. They do not do their homework, they watch 'EastEnders', they all pile on and they go 'Oh, Babe!'. There's no use pretending you're reading your book or you've got your earpods in."

Meanwhile, the 'Ted Lasso' star went to add that she thinks the acting business is "terrible" for a woman over the age of 40 and ever since letting her hair go white has found that she is often offered stereotypical "old lady" roles.

She said: "I think it's terrible when a woman hits 40. I think for those actresses 40 to 60 who have been leads in series, top of their game, and suddenly, they're not required anymore. They don't fit into the box. For me, I let my hair go white during COVID because I wondered what was under there and thought it was a great opportunity.

"And then I liked the colour and decided to keep it, so I asked my agent. I was on 'Midsomer Murders' at the time and they said that was fine. BUt now I do find that I get a lot of grannies, old lady, parts and you think...come on, what about Helen Mirren?"