Rita Simons believes in the law of attraction, writes Kerri-Ann Roper.

The 41-year-old is back in her first screen role since she played Roxy, one half of the no-nonsense Mitchell sisters in EastEnders, and it’s a role she knew she wanted before it was offered to her.

“When I left EastEnders, I said I wanted to do a gangster movie. This is how my career always goes. [I say] I’m going to do this and then it happens, law of attraction I’m sure.”

The role she’s talking about sees her playing the gritty female lead in a hard-hitting new feature film, The Krays: Dead Man Walking.

The film sees notorious London gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray organise for Frank “The Mad Axeman” Mitchell to escape from a high-security prison.

Rita plays Lisa Prescott, the nightclub hostess enlisted to help keep Mitchell under control after his prison break, while he lays low at a safe house in London.

Rita’s scenes with Josh Myers as Mitchell are fraught with tension as madman Frank switches from placid to psychopath in seconds.

“One of the things, and this was actually my choice to do, and I’m really glad I did it and the director was pleased I made the suggestion, was when she goes in to kiss him, I said the audience need a sign to know she’s not on his side.”

“So I said, ‘I’m going to keep my eyes open and watch him’. I don’t know how that looks because I haven’t seen it, but I wanted it to come across that I’ve got his number and I’m just playing the game.”

To make Lisa as believable as possible, Rita had to master a “particular twang of Cockney from those days that you don’t hear these days, other than in the older generation, who talk like that from the Sixties, so I wanted to make sure that was authentic.”

The film’s star-studded cast includes the late Leslie Grantham, known for playing EastEnders’ “Dirty” Den Watts, as Detective Nipper Read in what was his last role.

Boardwalk Empire’s Marc Pickering plays Reggie Kray and Guerrilla star Nathanjohn Carter stars as Ronnie.

The Krays: Dead Man Walking is available on DVD and download now.