Blow For The Square As The Lovely Lacey Quits

New executive producer Bryan Kirkwood and his bosses were dealt a huge blow to their future plans for BBC’s EastEnders last week, when news broke through of the impending departure of one of the most popular actresses in Albert Square history; Lacey Turner is to leave the show.

Turner, who plays the popular character Stacey Slater, has seeked the desire to chase up other opportunities in the world of acting.  Having played Stacey since 2004, the time may be right for her to move onto pastures new.  However, EastEnders will be a poorer show without her extraordinary talent, that made her stand out, even during the mid-part of the last decade, when the show was in rapid decline.

Lacey has had some incredible storylines in her six years on the Square.  She arrived in November 2004, as a meddling character, determined to cause havoc for many people, whatever it took.  Quickly, she soon settled down with Bradley Branning and the two lovebirds embarked on a Romeo & Juliet romance.  Stacey was also involved in the year-long affair with Bradley’s dad Max, which kept viewers hooked on how Bradley would find out what his cheating wife and deceitful Dad had been upto.  On Christmas Day 2007, all was revealed on a DVD, in one of EastEnders finest recent moments.  Since then, Stacey also had to deal with the disease, bipolar, a first of British soaps.  It saw Lacey take on some really challenging and gritty roles, making her standout even more than before.

More recently, Stacey married Bradley again, but in the live episode to culminate EastEnders 25^th anniversary, Bradley, on the run from the police plunged to his tragic death off the roof of the Queen Vic.  Seconds later, Stacey confessed to Max that she had been the one who killed the hated Archie Mitchell on Christmas Day 2009.  A showdown between the two recently occurred on-screen, as Max tried to catch-up and make Stacey pay for her actions. 

On her departure, Lacey told the media website Digital Spy: “I've had the most fantastic time at EastEnders. Stacey has been such a brilliant role for me to play, as has being part of the feisty Slater family.  "I'm so lucky to have had such challenging storylines, from the affair with Max and being diagnosed with bipolar to the complete shock of being revealed as Archie's killer during the live 25th Anniversary episode."  "I'll miss Stacey and everyone in Albert Square very much but the time has come to try something different."

In the past five years, Turner’s successful acting has won her numerous awards, ranging from Best Actress at the National Television Awards, to Best Newcomer at the British Soap Awards.  She has amassed a staggering twenty-eight awards, some as part of a storyline and the Best Serial Drama, which EastEnders normally ends up winning.

Kirkwood has confirmed that a dramatic exit is being written for Stacey, and the door will remain open to one of Walford’s most favourite and iconic characters making a return in the future.  So don’t worry Stacey fans, she won’t be departing in a coffin, no need for the tissues!

Lacey Turner has been a real credit to EastEnders and she will be profoundly missed by everyone at the BBC.  However, her success playing Stacey Slater surely means we haven’t seen the last of her on television.  She can only go onto brighter and bigger ventures in the future.

EastEnders Live Episode - Now That Was A Surprise...

Last Friday, EastEnders celebrated its 25^th birthday, and in some style too.  The show’s first ever live episode went down in a grand manner, which a shock death and the revelation of Archie Mitchell’s killer, which kept everyone guessing until the final moment.

The scriptwriters and producers on the BBC show spent a load of time putting the effort into producing a gripping half an hour of drama for its millions of fans and so it proved out.  All of Archie’s suspects were acting on edge, realising that their actions on Christmas Day were coming back to haunt them.  Janine Butcher was planning to runaway, both Jack and Max Branning clearly had something to hide and Roxy Mitchell continuous questioning of Sister Ronnie’s motives may have been dogged, but certainly suggested to the normal viewer that the tension was bubbling. 

Mixing in Ricky and Bianca’s wedding was a great idea, because it meant that although Archie’s killer was going to take the main plotline, there was something just as important going on in the background.  Maybe Ricky and Bianca can break soapland’s traditional plotline of recent times and have a happy and successful marriage.  The episode also had the two longest serving characters, Ian Beale and Dot Cotton watching a very old videotape, which had moments from some of Walford’s famous characters down the years, including Arthur Fowler and Sharon Watts.

The episode culminated with the police, swarming all over Albert Square to find Bradley Branning, who was being urged by both Jack and a reluctant Max to flee before they came.  Bradley and his new wife, Stacey Slater made a break for it, as Max and Jack tried every trick in the book to stall the police.  Unfortunately, Bradley forgot the passports and had to head back to get them.  The police caught up with him and in a desperate attempt to escape their clutches, he fell off a rooftop, plunging to his untimely death.  As the Vic onlookers rushed out to see the horror, across the Square, Stacey confessed to Max that she had been the one that had done away with Archie.  The aftermath will be very intriguing to follow now.  It was revealed after the episode that Lacey Turner, who plays Stacey, had been struggling for days with a losing voice, so her scenes on Friday were even better, considering that trouble.

Though there were a couple of line/continuity errors, it went really well for a live episode and with 14million tuning it, the BBC bosses certainly got the figures they were after, completing a brilliant week for the company, which had seen ITV’s two midweek picks, the BRIT Awards and the return of the UEFA Champions League stuffed in the ratings by medical drama, Holby City. 

To conclude, credit where it’s due, well done to Dredrick Slater and his team, plus the actors/actresses for producing a captivating half an hour live drama on Friday night.  What is in store next remains to be seen, but with former Hollyoaks producer Bryan Kirkwood, who turned the Channel 4 soap from 2006-2009, EastEnders could be set for a return to the glory days, after years in the doldrums of dodgy storylines and dismal characters.