Audiences are used to seeing her playing downtrodden Little Mo in EastEnders, but Kacey Ainsworth's latest part in hit BBC1 series Hotel Babylon looks set to dramatically change her on-screen profile.
In her first role since leaving Albert Square, Kacey will play a hard-nosed tabloid editor who arrives at the fictional five star hotel in search of the scoop on a pair of "celebrity" guests. The 35-year-old mother of one - she has a daughter Blossom with fiancé Darren Hales - joins show regulars Tamzin Outhwaite and Max Beesley for the episode which will be screened in the New Year.
"Kacey is unrecognisable from her days as a downtrodden doormat in Walford," a show insider told a UK newspaper. "She's fiesty and fiery and not altogether likeable."
Also putting in a guest appearance in another episode is former Celebrity Love Island presenter Kelly Brook. Billy Zane's fiancée will adopt aristocratic airs for her role as Lady Catherine Stanwood, a former hotel receptionist who, having found herself a Lord, wants to start organising charity balls.
Other well-known faces lined up to appear in the series include Little Britain's David Walliams, Cheri Lunghi and Russ Abbot.