The power struggle between Nicola Mitchell and her mother Rose Hawkins intensifies as Rose arrives in Walford with a mission to expose a shocking truth about the past. Actress Marian McLoughlin, who plays Rose, reveals the dynamics of their fraught relationship, which is rooted in a tragic family history.
A Mother-Daughter Battle for Control
Rose Hawkins, portrayed by Marian McLoughlin, is a formidable matriarch who is more than a match for her daughter Nicola, played by Laura Doddington. According to McLoughlin, Rose's tough exterior is a product of her difficult past. 'She's had to be very tough because of what happened to her,' McLoughlin explains. 'She came from poverty, and had her house burnt down. Her husband came back from the war, things happened as we know. She's got a very sharp tongue and uses it as a weapon. Particularly with Nicola, it's a way of diminishing her retaining power. It's all about power struggle, mother versus daughter.'
The tension was palpable in Monday's episode when the Hawkins family descended on Walford, and Nicola was visibly less than happy to see them. While not estranged, Nicola had always kept her mum and sisters at arm's length, and viewers soon saw why. Rose's first act on the Square was to attempt to sabotage Nicola's relationship with George Knight (Colin Salmon), painting her daughter as dangerous and unstable. However, George was not swayed and insisted that Nicola was kind, loving, and caring.
'Nicola is all of those things and more,' Rose purred. 'I just hope you never see the 'more'.' The warning proved prophetic when George and Rose walked into the Prince Albert and found Nicola threatening her niece Megan's abusive boyfriend with an icepick while he was tied to a chair.
Conflicting Memories of a Troubled Past
The root of the animosity between mother and daughter lies in their vastly different recollections of Nicola's father, the late Mister Hawkins. Nicola has confided traumatic memories to George and Eve Panesar-Unwin (Heather Peace), describing her father as an abusive and violent man who would drunkenly lash out physically at both her and Rose. She also recalled how he would freeze her out for days, barely able to look her in the eye.
Rose, however, remembers things very differently. She describes Mister Hawkins to George as the man who kept the family together. The discrepancy in their memories harks back to the day Mister Hawkins died, a shocking backstory revealed this week. When Nicola discovered her dad attacking her mum, she intervened and warned him to leave. Despite Rose's pleas for Nicola to stay out of it, Nicola wouldn't budge, and her drunken dad got in his car and left. Rose warned that if anything happened to her husband, she'd never forgive Nic. Sure enough, the abuser died in a car crash, and Rose kept her word, even trying to turn Nicola's sisters Gemma (Patricia Potter) and Jodie (Anna Constable) against her.
The Truth Behind Rose's Return
So why is Rose in her daughter's backyard if she hates her so much? McLoughlin spills the tea. 'She's there to sort out the truth of what happened all those years ago. Coming with her version of the truth. It's up to the audience to decide who is telling the truth.'
The possibility that Nicola could be making the whole thing up or embellishing details to make herself look better is a real one, according to showrunner Ben Wadey. 'Nicola is not a bad liar,' Wadey chuckled. 'She is quite comfortable spinning her own version of events. What I found really interesting through the story is us hearing Nicola's version and then hearing different versions of the past. What her mum's version of the past is compared to her sisters'.'
'It's true of so many families. Everybody has these shared collective experiences of things that happened many years ago, but everyone remembers them slightly differently. It just creates endless drama. We will uncover things that will go in directions you weren't necessarily expecting.'
As the Hawkins family drama unfolds, viewers are left to decide who is telling the truth about the past, with the promise of unexpected twists ahead.
