Jill Halfpenny has claimed that she is remembered more for her Strictly Come Dancing win, than for her role on BBC soap Eastenders.

Talking about winning the show in 2004, Halfpenny told the Daily Record: “When you leave a show like EastEnders, the one thing you never expect is to do something so quickly that almost eclipses that.

“Although people totally remember me as from EastEnders and still refer to it, of course, I am more so remembered for Strictly.”

She continued: “I entered Strictly being known as Kate Mitchell from EastEnders and I left being known as Jill Halfpenny, so that absolutely changed things for me.

“It was such an amazing part of my life and what’s brilliant is I am still involved with it, in one way or another, every year. It’s such a lovely thing to be involved in and I am so grateful to have had that opportunity come my way.”