EastEnders spoilers follow.
EastEnders star Kitty Castledine has revealed to Inside Soap that Penny Branning harbours a “nostalgic feeling” for Harry Mitchell amid uncertainty about whether he or Vinny Panesar is the father of her unborn child.
Penny announced her pregnancy to boyfriend Vinny back in February, and the pair have been excitedly preparing to become first-time parents ever since.
However, Penny is set to secretly discover that Harry Mitchell could be the father of her baby, resulting from a one-night stand they shared late last year.
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“I was told earlier on that there would be a twist,” Kitty tells us. “So I knew there was going to be drama. It made me nervous and I became Penny, weighing up the pros and cons of what happens if it’s Harry, what happens if it’s Vinny!”
Vinny has already proved himself to be a doting dad-to-be, but Kitty knows that Harry Mitchell’s rogue nature suits her character’s mischievous side.
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“Penny can see Vinny has the potential to be such a rock in her life,” muses the actress, who first appeared in EastEnders on New Years Day 2024. “She’s never really had that before. He gives her this sense of stability that she’s always lacked.
“We can always bring it back to her relationship with Jack,” she adds. “Vinny’s quite different to her dad which is why she’s leaned more towards him. But we can’t forget that Penny is born from excitement and is a thrill-seeker, and Harry Mitchell does tick a lot of those boxes.
“He was the first guy she met on the Square so there’s always going to be that nostalgic feeling when she sees Harry.”
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Given that Penny and Vinny are more smitten than ever, the Branning lady will no doubt hope that Vinny is the biological father – although, Kitty is still undecided on who she would like to be Penny’s baby daddy!
“One day I will read a script and I think, ‘Maybe it would be great if it was Vinny as I love working with Shiv [Jalota, who plays him],” she explains. “And then I’ll work with Elijah Holloway [Harry] and I’ll think, ‘That’s fun, and Harry would be brilliant too.’
“I love them both equally so it’s sort of a win-win situation for me!”
To read our full exclusive chat with Kitty about Penny’s pregnancy plot, pick up the upcoming issue of Inside Soap, available to buy from Tuesday, 31 March.
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.
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For exclusive soap star interviews, gossip, spoilers and theories every week, don’t miss the Soap Scoop podcast from Inside Soap magazine. The latest episode delves into next week’s soap spoilers for EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale – as Gary Windass battles Theo Silverton, and Kim Tate is rocked by a poisoning mystery!