Rita Simons hopes starring in the new season of ‘The Pilgrimage’ will show she is not 'EastEnders' "party girl" Roxy Mitchell.
Rita Simons is to appear on The Pilgrimage
The 46-year-old star admitted it was “refreshing” to explore her Jewish faith and heritage alongside celebrities with a variety of religious backgrounds, such as actress Su Pollard, ex Boyzone member Shane Lynch and Paralympian skier Millie Knight, on the fifth series of the BBC Two programme.
She told OK! magazine: "It was refreshing to be asked to do something where we’re talking spiritual ideas and culture. You’re literally digging into someone’s soul when you’re asking about their faith."
Rita hopes her appearance on the show will allow people to see her as something other than her “party girl” character Roxy from the long-running BBC One soap.
She said: “I wanted to show I’m not this party girl from Ibiza in the East End, I’m actually not Roxy, I’m Rita, I’m a mum, I’m middle-age.”
In January, the panto star admitted she and her on-screen sister Samantha Womack, 50 - who played Ronnie Mitchell - were “gutted” to leave Walford and “didn’t want to die” in 2017.
Rita told ‘Good Morning Britain’: “Obviously it’s no secret we were gutted to leave, because we loved our characters. I love Sam, she’s my best friend, you become a pretend family.
"We did want to leave but we didn’t want to die. And to watch your “sister” die, and to willingly kill your own character you’ve played for 10 years and you love, is a weird dilemma to be in, because you have to do the filming…”
But Rita believes 'EastEnders' will “be fine” under the stewardship of producer Chris Clenshaw.
She said while on the ITV1 breakfast show: “With someone like Chris in charge, I think ‘EastEnders’ is going to be fine.
"I don’t think people will ever want rid of ‘EastEnders’.
"Maybe over the years it might die out as there’s such a huge range of stuff to watch. But for the short term, for this generation and the next, I don’t see it going anywhere.”
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