Former EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has said she always connected with “the elders” on the soap, naming her late co-stars Barbara Windsor and June Brown as influences. Speaking to Prima magazine, Cassidy said she enjoyed working with many of the older actresses on the soap. Cassidy, who said she would not be averse to returning for guest appearances in the soap, said she had enjoyed reinventing herself. “I do feel like my face has changed a little since leaving EastEnders, because I was quite sad and depressed when I was playing Sonia, or angry all the time. But you haven’t got any time to plan anything else, so it does take over your whole life.”Cassidy, who appears on the front cover of Prima’s November issue, said it had been “freeing leaving EastEnders”, but “Albert Square will always hold a place in my heart”.