EastEnders’ Natalie Evans actress Lucy Speed looks unrecognisable after hair transformation for play

EASTENDERS' Natalie Evans actress Lucy Speed looked very different as she prepared for a new role.

The star, famous for playing Barry's long-suffering wife on the soap, was appearing in a stage adaptation.

Lucy, who has an impressive stage career alongside her TV work was playing Ada Jarvis in Mark Ravenhill’s thriller Blackmail.

She posed in the wings of the play in a picture she posed on Instagram, showing her with darker hair.

Sharing a picture of her with much darker hair in Colchester, Essex, the actress wrote: "Waiting backstage in tech."

One follower told her: "Looking good. Hope you are well love x."

Natalie Speed's joined EastEnders in 1993 aged 17, when she joined as Bianca Jackson's put-upon friend Natalie Price.

She moved on after a year but returned in 1999, joking he was glad to have a regular job, saying: "Cool, I can pay the mortgage."

Her character Lucy was introduced as running a dating agency called Romantic Relations, which has Barry Evans as a customer.

Having failed to match hapless Barry up with anyone else, they become attracted to one another and begin dating.

The pair married in a joint wedding on the turn of the Millennium with Ian Beale and Mel Healy.

She left the show after splitting from Barry who went on to be left for dead by mean Janine Butcher, returning only to witness her being jailed.