Ex-EastEnders star Zöe Lucker reveals story behind ‘bubbly’s in the fridge’ scene
"It’d have been awful if you did something like that in real life."
Former EastEnders star Zöe Lucker has shared the behind-the-scenes story of her iconic meme from the show.
Zöe starred in the BBC One soap between 2010 and 2011 as Vanessa Gold — one of the many women done wrong by heartbreaker Max Branning over the years.
One memorable scene has taken on a life of its own as a popular meme, involving Vanessa angrily shouting ‘bubbly’s in the fridge’ after discovering Max was cheating on her with ex-wife Tanya.
In a new interview with Attitude, Zöe immediately singled out ‘bubbly’s in the fridge’ as the most memorable moment from her time in Albert Square.
“It’s going to have to be ‘Bubbly’s in the fridge?’ obviously,” she said. “That scene was originally just one line, and the stage directions were ‘Vanessa trashes the house’, as she’d just come from finding out that Max was having an affair.
“When I was standing at the curtains, it was almost like I needed to build up a momentum. I didn’t know I was going to say it three times, but it just happened like that. We did it in one take.”
She went on: “It’d have been awful if you did something like that in real life, but being able to vent like that was just great. It took a while for me to calm down afterwards, because it was totally out of control. I was a bit zoned out and super shaky.
“I don’t remember anyone’s reactions to it on the set because when you’re in character and in that space, just getting the shots and making sure everything is as it should be, that’s the most important thing.”
It didn’t take long for Zöe to see the legendary potential of her on-screen breakdown thanks to a cheeky note from a friend.
“My friend was coming back from a night out in Soho just after the scene had gone out and there was a Post-it on the night bus saying ‘Bubbly’s in the fridge’, and he thought it was hilarious,” she remembered.
“It sort of gained momentum from there. People still send me their versions of ‘Bubbly’s in the fridge’ all the time. It’s brilliant; I love it!”
Unfortunately, love rat Max Branning didn’t learn much from Vanessa’s shocking meltdown as he’d go on to wreck the love lives of Stacey Slater, Rainie Cross, Lucy Beale and Linda Carter until he finally fled Walford a few years ago.
With his daughter Lauren now back in Albert Square, will Max eventually turn up to meet his other long-lost daughter?
EastEnders airs on Mondays – Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.
