Annette Badland faced death threats after EastEnders role
Former EastEnders star Annette Badland has revealed she received death threats while playing villain Babe Smith, prompting BBC security to warn her to stay indoors, avoid social media, and keep her movements private for roughly a month to six weeks. The actress shared the ordeal on the podcast A Night In With Sally Lindsay, describing how some viewers blurred the line between performer and character.
Key Takeaways
- Annette Badland got death threats over her EastEnders role as Babe Smith (2014–2017).
- BBC security flagged “red-alert” wording and told her not to go out or use social media.
- The lockdown-style period lasted about a month to six weeks.
- Investigators traced messages to a public school computer just outside Liverpool.
- Badland later starred as Mae Green in Ted Lasso and remains a familiar UK screen presence.
What happened to Annette Badland after her EastEnders exit?
As Babe’s villainy peaked ahead of her exit, Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) famously threw her out of the Queen Vic. Badland told Lindsay that producers “racked up” the character’s nastiness because she was leaving—and that the fan reaction turned dangerous.
“I had death threats,” she said, recalling a call from BBC security: threats included “red-alert code words,” so the matter had to be taken seriously. Coverage from Digital Spy and Radio Times aligns on that warning.
Why was Annette Badland told to stay home?
Security advice was blunt: do not go out, do not tell people where you are going, and stay off social media. Lindsay likened it to “house arrest”; Badland agreed. Metro reported she was effectively forced into hiding while the threats were investigated.
The restricted period ran for roughly a month to six weeks. For readers who follow celebrity lifestyle and home-security angles alongside entertainment news, BlasterPost’s Luxury Real Estate & Dream Homes hub tracks how public figures rethink privacy at home.
Where did the EastEnders death threats come from?
Investigators eventually traced the messages to a public computer at a school just outside Liverpool. Badland said they did not believe a child was responsible, but the shared machine meant they “couldn’t get much further.”
Babe Smith was a ruthless Carter-family aunt—blackmail, manipulation, and a plot that even saw her try to kill sister Sylvie—across 219 episodes from 2014 to 2017. Badland has since appeared in hits including Ted Lasso, with season four due later this month, plus credits such as Midsomer Murders.
The podcast revelation underscores a familiar soap risk: when a villain lands hard, a minority of viewers can confuse fiction with the actor’s real life—and security teams must treat credible threats as real.