Anita Dobson: I felt like I was coming back to EastEnders at the soap awards (VIDEO)

(Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Anita Dobson said she was so proud to present a British Soap Award to Kellie Bright because EastEnders 'broke' her as an actress.

Kellie won Best Dramatic Performance, as well as Best Actress, at the soap awards and received the first honour from Anita, who played iconic Queen Vic landlady Angie Watts in EastEnders from its debut in 1985 until 1988.

Anita told What's on TV: "I was very happy to be asked to present an award at the soap awards because [EastEnders] broke my career, so I'll always be grateful for that. Also it was a great night for EastEnders. They scooped the board in awards and I presented the first to lovely Kellie.. and so it felt like I was coming back to something really nice and to be part of it for that short time so it was a lovely thing. I was very very proud to be there."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SY2jYrC-tw

Anita's career has been marked by the wide variety of roles she's played and on BBC2 on Sunday she plays Queen Elizabeth I in the drama documentary Armada.

Anita said: "I must be one of the most fortunate actresses alive to be asked to play Queen Elizabeth I. It's something that will stay with me for the rest of my life."

Anita's next role after Armada is in the British film, London Road, which opens nationwide in early June.

Credit: London Road premieres on 9th June via NT Live and is on general release on 12th June. Visit londonroadfilm.co.uk for more information.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.