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Revealed: The four 'EastEnders' characters to be axed
Four stars from BBC One’s soap ‘EastEnders’ will be axed in an attempt to boost dwindling ratings.
11:03 25 September 2013
Updated: In addition to the four other axed Walford residents, onscreen couple Ava Hartman and Sam James will also both depart ‘EastEnders’ following the shake-up of the cast.
According to reports, the duo (played by Clare Perkins and Cornell S John) will leave once their current kidney transplant storyline wraps.
Despite the departures of his on-screen parents, their son Dexter (Khali Best) will be staying on the show.
An ‘EastEnders’ insider told Digital Spy: "The conclusion of the Sam storyline was planned many months ago. Since taking over last month, new executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins is continuing the story as it was originally mapped out."
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In a desperate effort to gain a ratings advantage over ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Emmerdale’, four major ‘EastEnders’ characters will be spectacularly dropped from the soap.
Characters Kirsty Branning, AJ Masood, Carl White and Poppy Meadow are will all depart in the New Year.
The move has been planned by executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins who originally began work on the show as a scriptwriter. As a writer, he was responsible for the popular ‘Who Killed Archie Mitchell?’ plot in 2010 which garnered 16.6million viewers.
But since that peak, ratings have dropped resulting in former boss Lorraine Newman quitting in July after viewing figures plummeted below five million.
Kirsty (Kierston Wareing), AJ (Phalut Sharma), Carl (Daniel Coonan) and Poppy (Rachel Bright) will take their final bows at Christmas, leading some to believe that the soap has plans for a singular big event to threaten Walford over the festive season.
A spokeswoman for the soap said: "We can confirm these actors will be leaving EastEnders. We wish them all the best."
Treadwell-Collins has already signed up replacement stars. Comic Terry Alderton will play a new character called Terry Spraggan, who will initially serve as a love interest to Bianca Butcher (Patsy Palmer).
Ex-‘Holby City’ actress Luisa Bradshaw-White will also join the series as Tina, the sister of Shirley Carter.
An insider told The Sun: "Dominic didn’t feel the characters who are leaving fit with the direction he is taking the show so he quickly decided to write them out.
"He has only been in a month but he is already making big changes. He knows what he wants for EastEnders and is putting plans in place quickly.
"His arrival has gone down really well with the cast and crew and there is a real energy in the studios right now – even though some cast are scared they could be next for the chop."