After taking part in EastEnders’ live anniversary special, Simone James said goodbye to the soap and bagged the lead role in the stage version of Dickens’s classic Great Expectations.

“I was just lucky enough to be there at the right time because even if you just dip in and out of EastEnders, everyone watched that episode,” Simone says, remembering the 25th anniversary of the BBC’s flagship soap last year.

“It was great when the EastEnders part came up because I completely fell in love with my character, Becca Swanson, and grabbed it with both hands. Becca didn’t blend into the background because she was a hell-raiser, and I came into the show when Stacey had hit a wall with her mental illness and everyone wanted to know where they would take the storyline.”

Not bad for an unknown 24-year-old drama school graduate. So how did she cope joining such a famous cast?

“To be honest, because EastEnders is such a machine you can be quite overwhelmed by the enormity of what they do,” Simone admits.

But when plans were announced for the live anniversary episode, Simone came into her own. “I feel most comfortable on stage, so when we came to the live show the whole company sat down together to go through the script. Everyone was there, which was amazing to see, and it really felt like a play rehearsal. There was a real buzz and vibrancy on set, because we all knew we were doing something special,” she says.

So how did it go?

“We all pulled through and some people did mess up, but it was supposed to be rough and ready and people really appreciated that. I still look back on that time with a really big smile on my face,” Simone says.

So will Becca be back?

“If you’re not killed off there is always the possibility that you could come back,” she smiles.

In the meantime, Simone landed the part of Estelle in Great Expectations.

“It’s a great part,” she smiles, “and I’m looking forward to playing someone with so much depth. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, play strong female characters in such classic stories.”

Was she familiar with the story?

“I read Great Expectations when I was 15 and then again at Christmas. And there’s a whole new layer of culture and vibrancy created by setting it in Calcutta that makes it more epic and rich. It bombards your imagination. It’s brilliant, it really is. Everyone who’s seen it says you just have to sit back and let it all wash over you.

“And I really had to get my head around Estelle because she’s so complex and I wanted to get under her skin.

“Great Expectations is not just an immense novel, it’s also a page-turner which totally relates to today’s world. Because we all have great expectations and there’s always a time in your life when you need to take off the rose-tinted goggles and realise that the real world is not a fairy-tale.”

Especially as an actress?

“Definitely,” Simone says firmly, “because when you’re young, being an actress is what you want to do, and you don’t know about auditions or about needing an agent or that’s it’s such hard work and totally over-subscribed. Nothing really prepares you for that and it wasn’t part of my vision.

“But at the moment it’s just one experience after the other. What more can I ask for?”

* Great Expectations is at the Oxford Playhouse from April 27-30. Call the box office on 01865 305305