She walked the cobbles of Albert Square for close to a decade, and last Christmas swished her tail and upset the good folks in Dick Whittington at MK Theatre.
But her return to the venue this week sees Sam Womack play what is perhaps her darkest role so far, writes Sammy Jones...
Sam, recently seen on the big screen in the second Kingsman movie, is starring as Morticia in The Addams Family. The curtain rose at Milton Keynes Theatre on Tuesday night and it's a darkly delicious affair. Not to mention visually spectacular.
"Often with touring productions you don't get that value for money. This set could be on a Broadway stage and still look stunning," Sam agrees.
"It is designed beautifully, the costumes are stunning. It is lit beautifully so that all those murky colours come to life and you really get that sense of the eerie and the slightly macabre, but it's a romantic set too and the piece itself is like that."
But the Bedfordshire-based actress was wooed long before the set came into the picture. She was gripped by the script from the start.
"When I got sent it, I saw that Morticia has got the most incredible, deadpan, sarcastic lines," she remembers.
"The book was written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Marshall co-wrote Annie Hall for Woody Allen, so it is really sharp dialogue, very, very funny, and she has got a lot of the dry lines, so straight away my comedy head was saying' 'Yeah, this is really classy,'
"Sometimes you just find a character really quickly and when I was doing the audition I thought 'I know exactly how to play her' and thought 'I really hope I get this.'
"I hadn't really been sure before the audition," she admits, "... but then I thought 'I really want this.'"
And how to play the lady in black?
"The traditional Morticia is very still and stern. Anjelica Huston has become everyone's 'go to' Morticia, whereas actually in the TV series, she was slightly softer and more maternal, and I've gone back to that a little bit."
When we speak with her prior to the MK run, Sam has just taken a day off sick.
"I hate taking shows off," she says, "I'm famous for not doing that and like having that track record.
"Sometimes people associate TV actors with not being able to sustain theatre....because I started in theatre I have a really strong constitution, but I couldn't walk. It wiped me out.
"I lay in bed feeling really nauseous and awful that maybe some people had booked to see me in it and I felt like I was letting them down."
There seems to be a trend nowadays for certain lead performers to pass on the matinee performers in favour of delivering just one show per day. Unsurprisingly, Sam doesn't buy into that.
"Unless it is so vocally demanding, like Jean Valjean in Les Miserables where voices actually need a rest, I think it is a bit shitty actually..."
Last Christmas, while the nation was gripped by her character Ronnie's exit from Eastenders, Sam was busy treading the boards in Milton Keynes, starring as Queen Rat in Dick Whittington.
And she was the cat's whiskers. If you see what we mean.
"I like playing the baddies, it's much more liberating," she laughs.
"I think pantomimes are becoming better and better. In the old days they used to get a bad name for dry ice and glitter, and bad jokes."
But those days are gone.
"They are really competitive now, and so brilliantly cast and written.
"I am doing another one in Cardiff this year, but it will be hard to top Milton Keynes - I had a great time doing that!"
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And though the dust has settled since that dramatic Albert Square exit, we have to mention it - after spending so long in the show, when the axe dropped it must have been hard.
"Emotionally, it's hard, even though as an actor a job is only ever a yearly contract that keeps renewing. Certainly with new producers coming in, you know that they want to make an impact and get the ratings for the short time they are there.
"The problem is when you start getting rid of secure, and long term characters, you lose history.
"You can bring in as many new characters as you like, but it's a bit like a developer coming in and ripping up an old garden and laying down paving stones and pots - it's nice but you don't have that sense of history.
"The audience like knowing characters, and knowing their history because then any storyline you do has a weight to it, because you come with all that baggage.
"I think it's always a dangerous thing getting rid of long serving characters..."
But Ronnie isn't really gone...
"She definitely is in my constitution, I lived and breathed that character for nine years. Next week if I had to do a scene with her I would know exactly how to do it. She feels like a part of me.
"She really got under my skin, and also they were quite traumatic storylines. When you do those you do become a little bit closer to the character, they feel more personal to you."
For the moment, The Addams Family continues to take Sam's time and creativity, but the curtain falls on the tour at the start of December, after a terrific eight month run.
Then it's back to panto. And then?
She laughs: "I'm going to have a couple of months off, because I am knackered and haven't seen my family..."
Animals figure in the home life too. Last year she rescued six kittens in Spain, and although they have since been rehomed, she has two rescue ponies.
"I pretty much rescue anything I come across...I almost took on a komodo dragon too, but I got banned by my husband. He said he'd divorce me!"
A 'straight' play is also in the offing...
"I am loving the immediacy of the theatre at the moment. I love having that vibe back from the audience. I did TV for a long time so maybe I got tired of that for a little while.
"Perhaps I'll flip back next year, but at the moment, theatre feels really healing."
And for those of you who have not yet snapped up a ticket for The Addams Family during its MK stay, Sam has some final words.
"It's a family show, it's funny, it's also macabre and a little dark, and quite moving in some places.
"A bit Sweeney Todd-y, it's a really good new show. People haven't known what to expect and we've been getting four and five star reviews and standing ovations most nights, which for a new show is really hard to come by..."
The Addams Family, also starring Carrie Hope Fisher as Wednesday Addams and Cameron Blakely as Gomez Addams, continues at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday.
To book tickets click here
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