Kellie Bright found acting drunk "daunting".
The 43-year-old actress\' \'EastEnders\' alter ego, Linda Carter, is quietly battling alcoholism and as she hits the bottle harder over the festive season, Kellie had to throw herself into researching how to convincingly portray intoxication and admitted it was very "challenging".
She said: "I\'ve never had to play being drunk consistently before - it\'s quite daunting.
"I wanted a lot of real footage and listened to my fellow actors and any advice they had.
"Given the turnaround of filming here, it\'s been one of the most challenging things I\'ve ever had to do.
"I just had to do a lot of preparation so that when I walked into the studio I was ready to go and knew how drunk Linda needed to be in that particular scene."
Kellie was "really chuffed" to be given the hard-hitting storyline but she\'s now looking forward to a break from the intensive scenes over Christmas.
She told Inside Soap magazine: "I was really chuffed when I found out about Linda\'s story because it\'s an amazing one to play.
"I felt very lucky, although at the same time I thought, \'Oh God, now I have actually got to do it.
"So I\'m looking forward to Christmas as it\'ll be quite low-key for us.
"I have my husband\'s family coming to us for Christmas Day this year, which will be lovely."
And it seems Linda will still be at the forefront of the show in the coming months as Kellie hinted her alter ego\'s drinking could spell trouble for her marriage to Mick Carter (Danny Dyer).
She said: "Mick\'s horrified and disgusted by her behaviour - there\'s concern but there\'s also anger.
"He can\'t quite believe what\'s happening and there\'s a bit of denial there - Mick doesn\'t know how to handle it.
"Although I think it would take Linda literally losing her family for her to confront her problems."
