Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Favourite stars leave Albert Square as TV viewing figures plunge
A STRING of EastEnders favourites have quit the BBC soap over the last year.
Maisie Smith, who plays Tiffany Butcher-Baker, announced her decision to quit in October, having played Bianca’s bolshy daughter on and off since 2008 when she was just six years old.
Show veteran Adam Woodyatt took an extended break in January 2021. He has been touring in the play Looking Good Dead, alongside former on-screen wife Laurie Brett, and appeared in the 2021 series of I’m a Celebrity!
During conversations in the castle, Adam suggested no decision had been made about returning to EastEnders, and that he wouldn’t be available until April 2022 at the earliest.
In February 2021, Jake Wood’s final scenes as Max Branning aired. The popular actor quit after 15 years in the role.
Laila Morse’s latest stint as Mo Harris lasted from 2018 to 2021. In an interview she said: “I left in April. If they wanted me to go back for a one-off thing or a storyline lasting a couple of weeks I would, but I wouldn’t go back full-time.”
Last June, Davood Ghadami, who plays Kush Kazemi, also quit. He has been a major star in EastEnders for the past six years. In October, it was also confirmed that Clair Norris will be leaving her role as Bernadette Taylor after she said she needed to “take a break”.
Rose Ayling-Ellis, who plays Frankie Lewis, took a break to star in Strictly – which she won – but soap bosses say she is set to return.
EastEnders has been struggling in the soap ratings war for some time now. Although bosses are keen to point out it is a massive hit on iPlayer – with 57m streams – its viewing figures have dropped dramatically.
At Christmas in 1986, an incredible 30.1m viewers tuned in to watch Dirty Den (played by Leslie Grantham) hand divorce papers to Angie Watts (Anita Dobson).
But this year the show pulled in only 2.9m viewers – landing it in 10th place in the 10 most watched programmes on Christmas Day – beaten by both Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
A mixture of Covid as well as sport on TV were the reasons behind the soap’s all-time low last July, with 1.7m viewers.
Ratings expert
Stephen Price said: “The soaps’ dominance of traditional TV appears to be on the wane, no longer impervious to challenge from the linear opposition and losing fans to the streamers.”