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EastEnders legend and Ted Lasso star reveals she received "death threats" following villainous storylines

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EastEnders legend and Ted Lasso star reveals she received "death threats" following villainous storylines

The actress left EastEnders in 2017.

Babe Smith in EastEnders

BBC

Michael Adams

Published: Wednesday, 29 July 2026 at 10:56 am

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Annette Badland, the former EastEnders star, has revealed she received death threats while appearing in the BBC One soap.

The actress, who also stars in Ted Lasso and Midsomer Murders, appeared as twisted Babe Smith between 2014 and 2017.

The character raised the Carter kids when their real mother, Sylvie (Linda Marlowe), abandoned them. She had a resentment towards the clan and lifelong jealousy towards her sibling, which surfaced as sinister manipulation and blackmail over the years.

Babe conspired with Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) to bring Shirley down, had a long-running feud with Abi Branning (Lorna Fitzgerald) and even tried to kill Sylvie.

Eventually, she was sent packing by niece and great nephew Shirley (Linda Henry) and Mick (Danny Dyer).

Now, in a new interview with fellow soap star Sally Lindsay on her A Night In podcast, Badland has revealed that she didn't get the best response from viewers during her stint.

Annette Badland on Sally Lindsay's podcast.

Annette Badland played Babe Smith in EastEnders. A Night in with Sally Lindsay

"Because I was leaving, they racked up my villainy and [she was] actually thrown out, literally thrown out of the pub by Danny [Dyer]," the star explained.

"But I had death threats. [There was] a call from the BBC security saying: 'We're getting death threats and there are red alert code words in this, so we have to take it seriously.'"

Badland was then told not to tell people where she was going, and not to use social media.

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"They eventually traced it to just outside Liverpool, a school. They didn't think it was a child because it was a public computer," she continued.

"They didn't feel they could get much further, and that took about a month to six weeks."

Stunned by the revelation, Lindsay commented that her guest was effectively under "house arrest", to which Badland agreed.

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Authors

Michael Adams wearing a white t-shirt and beige gilet against a white background

Michael AdamsSoaps Editor

Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

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