 Martine, who was born in Hackney, East London, shot to fame on BBC1 soap EastEnders, but has ruled out going back to Albert Square after Tiffany was hit by a car on New Year's Eve 1998. 'She went out with a bang – literally,' Martine said. 'If you're gonna go, that's the way. If I went back now, it just wouldn't be the same. I had the time I was meant to have.' Martine played barmaid Tiff for four years, at a time when the show attracted up to 20 million viewers. She starred alongside the late Dame Barbara Windsor, who played her on screen mother-in-law Peggy. Martine McCutcheon with her late EastEnders co-star Barbara Windsor (Image: Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock) Martine McCutcheon as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady at the National Theatre in London (Image: MICHAEL LE POER TRENCH/REX) Martine said: 'She was probably my best friend on set. We had many, many conversations in our dressing room about life and love and everything in between. I miss her very, very, very much.' After leaving EastEnders, Martine had a varied career, including a No.1 single with hit song My Perfect Moment in 1999. She also won a Laurence Olivier Award for her West End performance of Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower girl who is turned into a member of high society in My Fair Lady.){kind=link}
After roles as EastEnders barmaid Tiffany, Hugh Grant’s No10 tea lady in Love Actually and an Agatha Christie hotel maid, My Fair Lady stage star Martine McCutcheon hopes for upper-class screen parts
During her career, Martine McCutcheon has played a maid a fair few times.
The actress, best known as EastEnders barmaid Tiffany, was a huge hit as a tea lady in Love Actually. She even played a hotel maid in a Miss Marple whodunnit.
But the 46-year-old would love to take on more upper-class characters, like she did in the award-winning stage version of My Fair Lady.
Martine said: “I’ve been the barmaid, the maid with the biscuits and the maid in At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie. I learned on My Fair Lady on stage that it was nice to be the lady, so it’d be quite nice to be the lady on screen as well as on stage. That would be really good.”