Cover story: I'm thrilled Little Mo's back.. with her new baby Freddie Izzard; Perry Fenwick on the twin girls playing Mo's on-screen son.

Byline: STEVE HENDRY

The first thing Perry Fenwick expects to hear when he walks on to the set of EastEnders is the wailing and crying of his co-stars.

But it has nothing to do with the critical mauling the BBC soap has taken in recent months, summed up by its failure to pick up a prize at last week's National Television Awards.

It's the newborns in the cast who are causing the commotion. Albert Square is turning into a creche behind the scenes and Perry - who plays loveable rogue Billy Mitchell - is knee deep in nappies.

Kacey Ainsworth has returned to work as his estranged screen wife Little Mo following maternity leave and has brought daughter Blossom with her. And on screen, Little Mo has given birth to a baby boy called Freddie, who is played by two baby girls named Niamh and Lily.

Perry, who is in a long-term relationship with former Coronation Street star Angela Lonsdale, admits it's a little confusing. So much so the cast have nicknamed the soap baby 'Freddie Izzard' after cross-dressing comedian Eddie.

But the 41-year-old actor is not complaining - he's just getting broody. He said: 'I'm surrounded by babies at the minute and I think you would have to be especially hard-hearted if it didn't make you think about having a family of your own.

'But don't know if could handle it, to be honest. Kacey will come in and say, 'I've only had three hours kip'. You would think it would affect her - it bloody well would me - but it doesn't.

'Blossom is really cute. She's the most beautiful little girl with these big blue eyes. You only have to say hello to her and she greets you with a great big grin. And Niamh and Lily, the two babies who play Freddie, are lovely. Babies can be a handful but the ones we've got have been really good. think they are born to it.

'It does make you think about it though and I would say it's quite likely... but we'll just let nature take its course.'

Perry is not a man to make plans. An acting career spanning more than 20 years has seen him endure good times and bad. At his lowest ebb, he was raking down the back of the sofa for spare change to get him through Christmas and before he joined EastEnders he was signing on the dole.

Perry said: 'There's a great saying - 'man makes plans and the gods laugh'. I live by that. And 'What's for you won't go by you'. After the length of time I've been in this game I'm very fatalistic.

What's going to happen is going to happen.'

That includes the return of Kacey, who is back on our screens this week for the trial of Graham Foster (Alex McSweeney), the man who raped her and fathered her baby.

The depressing plot is hardly a cause for celebration but it will lead to the rekindling of Billy and Mo's relationship.

The couple's presence has been sorely missed and Perry has been kept in the background.

He said: 'There was a point a couple of months ago where people were saying, 'Didn't you used to be in EastEnders?' When I said I still was, they said 'Well, where's Little Mo then?' People put the two of us together. It's good to have her back.'

The return of Little Mo also coincides with the arrival of new EastEnders executive producer Kathleen Hutchison.

The former Holby City supremo has wasted no time in giving many characters the axe - including the entire Ferreira family - and has announced new faces such as former Bill star Billy Murray. More changes are afoot and while Perry is sad to see friends leave, he accepts it as part of acting and sees it as a chance for the show to move on. He said: 'It's a new chapter. We've been taking a lot of flak for a year and a lot of it is unwarranted.

'The show is on four nights a week and sometimes you have to patch it up a little bit. People forget EastEnders is a soap without advert breaks. We shoot more scenes per episode than anyone else.

'It does get you down a little but the flak will go somewhere else in six months. You can't have something being good all the time. And if it keeps the competition up, it's no bad thing.'

Perry tries not to worry about his own future. He puts his faith in fate and his own high standards.

He said: 'This will be the fourth executive producer I've worked under. It's always been a two-year job. EastEnders is like a massive ship you have to manage. You've got 40 actors' egos, the crew, the writers, the producers and the public.

'They watch it, have their own ideas on how they want it to be and what is wrong and right. If they like me, they like me, if they don't, they don't. But if I was told my time was up I would hate to think, 'You know that was your fault'. would hate to give anyone a reason to bin me because I hadn't been pulling my weight.'

Getting rid of Billy Mitchell is almost unthinkable but if it did happen, it would finally give Perry the time to finally marry Angela.

The couple have had to work hard at their relationship, especially when both worked on the country's biggest soap rivals, and even split briefly.

Perry said: 'Two actors being together is tough. Two actors whose schedule conflict all the time... it's almost impossible. But she's down in London now. We bought a house together last year.

'In the early days we sacrificed a lot because we wouldn't see each other for ages, so it makes it all the more important now. We will get married when the schedule allows but it's hard enough to plan going to West Ham never mind a wedding.'

CAPTION(S):

Little Mo and baby Freddie with her dad Charlie (Derek Martin), gran Mo (Laila Morse) and Billy, right; Perry's EastEnders' wedding to Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth) while her dad Charlie looks on proudly; Little Mo fell pregnant after being raped by Queen Vic regular Graham Foster (Alex McSweeney); Rapist Foster is arrested by police after Little Mo finally admits she was attacked; Perry with his long-term partner Angela Lonsdale, the former Corrie star, at a recent awards ceremony