EastEnders is to lose one of its longest-running cast members.
Natalie Cassidy has announced that she will leave the soap permanently having played Sonia Fowler for almost 32 years.
Cassidy first appeared on the BBC soap when she was 10 in 1993, and left for the first time in 2007. She returned for a year in 2010, and then again in 2014, since when she has remained a regular fixture on the series.
The actor’s exit scenes will coincide with the show’s 40th anniversary on 19 February.
Cassidy announced the news in a statement shared with The Sun, reading: “I feel extremely sad to be writing this, but also very excited.
“After another 11 solid years back on The Square, I have decided it's time to move on to pastures new. EastEnders is in my bones so I will never forget where I started my career and I will continue to love the show.”
Cassidy continued: “Thank you to Chris Clenshaw for the opportunity to be such a big part of the 40th anniversary – it's an honour. See ya, Sonia, going but never forgotten.'
She is believed to have informed bosses she wanted to leave the soap last summer.
After first leaving the soap in 2007, Cassidy appeared in several stage productions, including The Vagina Monologues and The Cherry Orchard.
Later that decade, she released a high-profile fitness DVD and appeared in a supporting role in Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s League of Gentlemen follow-up Psychoville.
She recently appeared on sitcoms Motherland and Mandy, and co-hosts a TV review podcast with Gavin & Stacey actor Joanna Page.
Next month, she will also appear in series two of Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s BBC Three hit Boarders.
Cassidy has been in a relationship with BBC cameraman Marc Humphreys since 2014, and they have one daughter Joanie. Cassidy also has a daughter Eliza with her ex Adam Cottrel.
In EastEnders, Cassidy is pregnant with the baby of killer Reiss Calwell (Jonny Freeman), whose wife she was falsely jailed for murdering.
One of the actor’s most famous Sonia moments occurred in 2000 when she gave birth as a 15-year-old without realising she was pregnant.
