How Tracy-Ann Oberman stole Christmas
A surprise return to EastEnders and a starring role in Harlan Coben’s Runaway - the actress reveals why speaking up hasn’t slowed her down
For most actors, Christmas Day is sacrosanct. Even pantomime casts take off their sparkly shoes.Which is precisely why Tracy-Ann Oberman turning up on EastEnders on Christmas Day landed as such a surprise.
Chrissy Watts never really disappeared from viewers’ memories, but her return this time caught people off guard. When Tracy-Ann briefly reappeared in 2023, it was in prison scenes with Sharon who was forced into a confrontation with the woman whose father, Den Watts, she had murdered. Christmas Day was something else.
“I got a message asking if I’d like to come back for Christmas Day,” Tracy-Ann says. “And I just thought — what fun. To take Chrissy back on that day, of all days.”
This time, Chrissy arrived fully herself — styled, controlled, disruptive — slipping onto our screens after the King’s Speech and the turkey. It wasn’t a long appearance, but it didn’t need to be. Chrissy Watts turning up on 25 December was never on the Christmas cards – particularly as returning to the soap meant fitting it into Tracy-Ann’s schedule while she was appearing at Hampstead Theatre in Richard Greenberg’s The Assembled Parties.
“It was enormously great fun to be back on the Square with them all,” she says. “What was lovely this time was that I got to go back into the Queen Vic working with Michelle Ryan, Jessie Wallace and Kim Medcalf, who I hadn’t properly seen for 20 years. I was only in EastEnders for 18 months originally, but it was a very high-octane 18 months, and I spent a lot of my time with those girls. So to go back 21 years later and spend that time together was really emotional. A lifetime had passed. I’ve had kids. There was a lot to share. We were all hugging and kissing each other. It was really lovely.”
Chrissy’s appeal, Tracy-Ann says, has always been her complexity.
“People still argue — was she a villain, was she a victim? And that’s why she lasted. She was fully rounded. We were always careful not to turn her into pantomime.”
Reaction to the Christmas episodes was mixed, but Chrissy’s return cut through. On social media — particularly TikTok, where a younger audience now acts as an informal but influential jury — clips of TAO’s scenes circulated quickly, with many younger viewers calling her appearance the standout moment of the festive run and saving grace of the Christmas storyline.
Tracy-Ann has yet to see the TikTok reels, but adds: “I’ve developed as a screen actor since I was last there. I understand writing and structure more. EastEnders is a very specific machine — multi-camera, fast turnover — and I actually loved going back into that.”
She laughs. “Also: fabulous wardrobe, fabulous hair, fabulous nails, a bit of havoc… then off I go back to my other work.” And there is a lot of other work.
There’s Runaway, for starters, which airs on New Year’s Day. Adapted from a novel by Harlan Coben, it stars James Nesbitt and Minnie Driver, and opens with a family unravelling after a teenage daughter disappears.
Tracy-Ann plays Jessica Kinberg, a sharp, high-end lawyer called in once the stakes are set. “I’m only in two episodes,” she says, but the role has already made an impact with preview critics and, more importantly, with series writer Danny Brocklehurst, who has adapted many of Coben’s novels.
Asked whether there was a single character from any of them he would happily return to, Danny didn’t hesitate. “The only thing I keep saying — and I am sort of joking — is that I probably could write a show for Runaway’s lawyer, Jessica Kinberg.”
He goes on: “I’ve known Tracy a long time. She worked on Sorted with me in 2006. She is so good. Every time she is on screen as Jessica I think, ‘Yeah, I could write an hour-long TV series for this character.’ I would enjoy doing that. Tracy-Ann is a lot of fun and you could just put brilliant lines in her mouth. She sells them completely.”
Praise indeed with the suggestion of future employment — and then there’s Harlan Coben himself. He wasn’t on set during filming, but Tracy-Ann and the Jewish author have got to know each other nonetheless.
“We sort of became kind of Instagram buddies,” she says. “And then when he was in London recently, he came to see me in The Assembled Parties. We went for a drink afterwards and had a chat. It was like meeting a long-lost friend. He’s amazing. What a generous, talented, wonderful human being.”
Credit : Helen Murray
Here’s hoping Runaway’s lawyer has legs. It lands at a moment when Tracy-Ann has rarely been busier — something she knows is far from guaranteed for women over 40, and more pointedly for Jewish women who are outspoken about their identity.
“And that’s amazing,” she says. “Women of my age are often just pushed out because the parts aren’t there. And to have been so vocal — to advocate for my identity and for my community at a time when Jewish people are feeling under fire, marginalised, silenced, gaslit — that was a risk in itself.”
That outspokenness has played out publicly too. More recently, Tracy-Ann appeared on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, where she refused to be cornered into a proxy argument about geopolitics. Calm and precise, she pushed back as the discussion edged towards Israel as shorthand for Jewish identity, declining to be boxed in. It was a moment that could have gone another way with a different presenter — but she emerged unscathed, with Phillips’ evident respect. But the outcome — the job offers — has surprised even her.
“How lucky I am to be able to be a role model and show that you can still be true to your identity. You can be proud of who you are. You can advocate for what you believe in and still be in constant employment.” She pauses. “I mean, I’ve had the best few years of my career in the past few years.”
Much of that momentum has come from creating her own work. Her reworking of The Merchant of Venice built a large and loyal audience nationwide. She is now preparing Present Laughter, giving Noël Coward’s famously autobiographical lead role, Garry Essendine, a female twist.
“I’ve found a bit of a sweet spot,” she says. “I get offered very high-brow work. I get offered mainstream television. I get to write radio plays. I’m now producing and creating theatre that people seem to like — and I’m still being asked back into things like EastEnders.”
Present Laughter opens in Bath in the spring before touring, but before that she has another television series and rehearsals for a new play at the Menier Chocolate Factory, which she can’t yet talk about beyond the fact that it has claimed its place in her diary. And if the reaction to Chrissy Watts’ Christmas Day return proved anything, it’s that the character still has unfinished business. Tracy-Ann is deliberately vague — because she has to be — but she doesn’t rule anything out either.
At a time when many Jewish artists describe the industry as narrowing or unforgiving, Tracy-Ann’s workload feels quietly defiant. She doesn’t pretend it has been easy, or that there wasn’t risk involved — security at stage doors included — but she is clear about why she thinks she has come through it still working.
“Many actors and actresses I know speak out on subjects that they really don’t know anything about,” she says. “They sign letters that they haven’t fully read or understood the implications of.” For her, that line matters.
“I think I have gained respect because even if people don’t agree with what I say, they know that it comes from a place of knowledge, understanding and my truth. It’s a lived experience. So when I talk about antisemitism, when I talk about the Middle East, when I talk about October 7, I am fully informed. And I think that is something that the industry and people in general – respect.”
That honesty, she believes, has also brought something else.
“I have never felt so supported by incredible allies both creatively and politically.” Busy, outspoken and unapologetically herself, Tracy-Ann Oberman — who gets her MBE in February — stands as proof that it is still possible. Something for others to consider as 2026 begins.
Runaway starts on Netflix on 1 January
Keep community journalism free.
Jewish News is free for everyone. No paywall. No barriers. Just trusted journalism for anyone who wants to stay connected to Jewish life in Britain.
If you value that, please support us.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help keep our journalism free and accessible to all.
Every day, we report on the issues that matter to our community. We celebrate achievements, support charities, challenge antisemitism and ensure Jewish voices are heard more widely.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help us continue to:
- Report on the stories shaping Jewish life in the UK and beyond
- Bring our community together through shared stories, events and campaigns
- Celebrate the people, culture and moments that define our community
- Support organisations doing vital work across Jewish Britain
You can make a one-off donation or become a regular supporter. Every contribution helps keep our journalism free, independent and accessible to all.
If everyone who values Jewish News gave a small amount, it would make a real difference to our future.
