We do love a good crossover from the world of pop music into Soapland, and this piece of casting news could be of particular interest to anyone who grew up in the 1990s.

Hannah “Paul’s Getting Down On The Floor While Hannah’s Screaming Out For More” Spearritt, best known for her stint in pop group S Club 7, is joining the cast of ‘EastEnders’, playing a new member of the Taylor family, who made their Albert Square debut earlier this year.

More specifically, Hannah will be starring as Kandice, the younger sister of matriarch Karen, played by Lorraine Stanley, and she’s not exactly masking her excitement at bagging the part.

She said: “I’m over the moon to be joining the show, it’s such a huge part of British telly.

“I’m really looking forward to getting started and I can’t wait to see the Square in the flesh. Walford here I come!”

Although it’s her pop career that made Hannah a household name, she is already an established actress, with past roles in ‘Primeval’, ‘Death In Paradise’ and ‘Casualty’ (not to mention the oft-forgotten S Club film, ‘Seeing Double’).

The news of her arrival in Walford comes shortly after it was confirmed that Tamzin Outhwaite would be making a much-awaited return to ‘EastEnders’, 15 years after she was last seen as Melanie Owen.

Tamzin’s soap comeback, and Hannah’s impending arrival, are among the first moves from John Yorke, who is temporarily serving as executive producer of ‘EastEnders’ following the sudden departure of Sean O’Connor over the summer.

Back in August, Hannah’s former bandmate Rachel Stevens admitted that she too had been in talks to join ‘EastEnders’ on multiple occasions, but the timing had never been right.