Rachel Bright

Rachel Bright (born 16 December 1983)  is an English actress, best known for her role in the  BBC  soap opera  EastEnders as  Poppy Meadow.

Career
Bright graduated from the Birmingham School of Acting, part of Birmingham City University, in 2007 and has since been based in London.She has adopted various acting roles since then, from an open air puppetry play, a punk rock musical feature film Silly Billy for Jackson Films, to Cross Purpose, a 1940s drama performed in the heart of London's fringe. She has appeared in short films Red Balloon and Sometimes the Moon Is Velvet.She appears as 'Anna' in the 2012 UK feature film Life Just Is.

[edit] EastEnders
Poppy was introduced in two episodes on 11 and 13 January 2011, in "filler" scenes which were substituted for scenes cut from the controversial baby swap storyline, in which  Ronnie Branning ( Samantha Womack)'s son  James, dies of sudden infant death syndrome and she secretly swaps him with  Kat Moon ( Jessie Wallace)'s son,  Tommy."  A spokeswoman for  EastEnders<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> confirmed that the scenes had been edited following viewers' strong response to the story, but said that no complete scenes were removed: "Given the audience response to this storyline, we felt on this occasion that it was appropriate to respond and make some changes. The vast majority of material remains intact and we don't believe that those trims we have made will weaken or detract from the overall storyline for viewers." <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> In an interview with the  Daily Mirror,<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> Bright stated that her first scene was her favourite throughout her tenure, as "all [she] could think was, 'I'm sitting on a bench in the Square!'". <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;">  Kylie Babbington<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;">, who played  Jodie Gold<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;">, revealed in May 2011 that Poppy would be returning and would have comical scenes. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> Bright made her return on 30 June 2011. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;">Poppy and Jodie were reportedly used to add humour to the soap, in the style of reality-drama series  The Only Way is Essex<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;">, though  The Sun<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;padding-left:0.1em;">' <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;">s Colin Robertson assessed that this venture had failed. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> On 24 October 2011, it was announced that the pair were to leave the show; <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> they made their final appearance on 14 November 2011. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> According to an  EastEnders<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> spokesperson, there is potential for Poppy to appear again in the future. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> In an interview with  Inside Soap<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;">,  EastEnders<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> executive producer  Bryan Kirkwood<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px;"> said of a possible return, "We may see Poppy pop up as I'm a big fan of Rachel Bright and the character, but Kylie is keen to pursue other roles."