Alice Coulthard (Maisie Wylde) quits

[Perdita]

Alice Coulthard quits 'Emmerdale'

Emmerdale actress Alice Coulthard has announced that she is quitting the soap to pursue new projects.

The 26-year-old, who plays Maisie Wylde on the Yorkshire-based drama, will reportedly concentrate on finding work in her home city of London after she films her final scenes.

Speaking to the Daily Star, Coulthard explained: "After two amazing years, I've decided to leave Emmerdale. I've had a wonderful time and will miss working with such a hard-working and talented team of people.

"I feel privileged to have been involved in some of the show's most gripping storylines and I'm excited to be a part of the drama that is about to unfold for the Wyldes."

Firm details of how Maisie will bow out are currently being kept under wraps by Emmerdale bosses.

However, the soap's series producer Gavin Blyth teased: "Maisie Wylde's compelling story will take more twists and turns in the coming months as she delves into darker territory which will culminate in her exit from the show. Alice has been a real asset to Emmerdale and we'll be sad to see her go."

Viewers saw Maisie suffer a breakdown earlier this year as she dealt with the shocking revelation that then-boyfriend Ryan Lamb (James Sutton) is her half-brother. She later spent time in a clinic in a bid to get her life back on track.

[tammyy2j]

No real loss for me

[Perdita]

Love her character and think Alice is a great actress, playing her really well

[tammyy2j]

I never took to the character and I find her very ott in her portrayal of Maisie well thats my opinion anyways

[Chris_2k11]

The actress is poor imo but I do like Maisie so a little sad about this

[lizann]

good riddance to bad awful rubbish i hope the rest of her family leave also

[angel_eyes87]

Cannot believe she is leaving, but you have to admit this story has become dull in the past few months, Maisie isn't exactly a great character, all she does is moan.

[Perdita]

James Sutton has claimed that Alice Coulthard's departure will hurt Emmerdale.

The 27-year-old actor, who plays Ryan Lamb, admitted that the star's decision to leave will be a "big loss" for the serial.

Coulthard, who portrays Maisie Wylde, quit the show less than a month ago. Sutton revealed that her decision centred around her wish to move back to London.

He told Holy Soap: "It's a big loss to the show. I think she's proved over the last few months that she's a top actress and any programme would be lucky to have her.

"Everyone's sad to see her go. She's getting married soon and wants to move back to London with her fiance. There will be a lot of work out there for her and we wish her the best."

[alan45]

Good of DS to post this again as its almost word for word what Sutton told them in their recent interview. Still it fills up space I suppose

[alan45]

Emmerdale's Maisie Wylde finds her world thrown into turmoil next week as she comes to the devastating realisation that Natasha and Nathan are lying to her over Mark's murder. After Cain has told her all he knows about the pair's suspicious behaviour, Maisie's doubts over her family are soon solidified when she gets hold of more evidence that points to Ryan's innocence. Now convinced that Nathan killed her dad and that Natasha is covering for him, Maisie confronts the scheming duo before departing Home Farm and the village itself. Why is she leaving and what will happen when she returns?

How does Maisie feel after hearing everything that Cain knows?
"She's shocked and understandably devastated about what Cain's told her. The information that he's shared means that it sounds like it's definitely true that Nathan has set Ryan up and Natasha is involved, so Maisie is not quite sure how to deal with the situation."

At first, Maisie holds back and avoids a direct confrontation with Nathan and Natasha - why is that?
"Well, she speaks to Declan about it and tells him everything she knows, or what she thinks she knows. Between her and Declan, they hatch a plan together - they agree that the best thing to do is to analyse the situation and not mention anything. They want to wait and see what happens rather than jumping straight in with a confrontation."

Is there a sense that Maisie is now scared of her own family?
"I'd say there's severe paranoia - that's the atmosphere that's going around the whole house. That includes Declan, because he knows everything that Maisie's told him. As well as that, Natasha and Nathan both know that Maisie suspects something - but nobody is telling anybody what they think, so everyone's suspicious of each other!"

What happens next?
"The situation changes when Katie finds an important picture. Knowing what Maisie's already found and told her about, she goes through her old photos and finds a picture of Ryan wearing the gold chain that was found near Mark's grave. As Maisie has had her phone stolen by Nathan and doesn't have the video footage anymore, she hopes that she now has the same evidence because it's a similar thing. More than anything, it just confirms things even further in Maisie's mind - whether it convinces the police or not is another issue, but it certainly confirms things 100% for her."


It did take Maisie quite a while to realise that Ryan is innocent and that the guilty party could be in her immediate family. Are you surprised by that, or can you understand it?
"I can understand that, because people believe what they want to believe and I think that it's really, really hard for Maisie to imagine that someone that she's grown up with and spent her life with - and who is her next of kin - has murdered another member of her family. I think that's quite hard for her to come to terms with, so I think it's understandable that it takes her so long to acknowledge the truth, or what she thinks is the truth!"

How does the situation at Home Farm change after Maisie gets hold of the photo?
"There's a huge confrontation between Maisie, Nathan and Natasha. Maisie is utterly convinced that Nathan murdered Mark, so she confronts them and shows them the photo that she's got hold of. She then tells Natasha to choose between her and Nathan, because she's simply not staying in the house with him. Natasha won't choose, so Maisie takes that as a sign that she's chosen Nathan and decides to leave."

Maisie doesn't just leave Home Farm but she also departs the village - why does she decide to do that?
"She needs to get away as I think that, understandably, everything is driving her a bit crazy. She's not getting anywhere by accusing Nathan and Natasha, so she's leaving to have a rethink of the situation and try to work out what to do next. Maisie needs to take a bit of a breather and get a bit of perspective on things."


Maisie's decision to leave devastates Ryan, doesn't it?
"Yeah, because apart from his mum, she's the only one who's fighting his corner and really believes in him. He really feels like he needs her. Also, she's the only one who has come up with any form of evidence to suggest that he's innocent."

What can we expect when Maisie eventually returns to the village?
"When she comes back to the village, she's fairly fragile but she's putting a brave face on things. She kind of flips between feelings of fragility and determination to save Ryan and get justice."

We know that you're leaving Emmerdale towards the end of the year - can you tell us why you made that decision?
"Well, it was partly because I'd always wanted to stay in the show for about two years. I thought that was a nice amount of time to do a job like this, as I'd like to do other things. It was also because I live in London and I've just got married, so splitting my time between Leeds and London after two years can get pretty tiring, really, and I just want to be able to live with my husband! Plus, I never intended to stay in a soap forever."


Was quitting Emmerdale a difficult decision to make?
"As I'd always planned to stay in the show for about two years, it was a decision that I'd made as soon as I started the job, to be honest! So I just decided to stick to it."

What kind of projects are you hoping to do next?
"I'm not sure yet. I've just got married, and literally everything that I've been doing and thinking about up until a few weeks ago has been to do with my wedding! So I've kind of taken a step back from thinking about my career, but now I'm just starting to talk to my agent again. I'm open to television and theatre - anything, as long as it's the right thing! There's not one particular medium that I'm looking for, I just want it to be the right part for me."

Are you surprised that Amanda Donohoe and Lyndon Ogbourne are also leaving?
"Well, Lyndon also lives in London and his girlfriend is in London, so I know that he shares similar feelings to me about being away from home all the time - it's very difficult. And Amanda lives in Suffolk and her partner is in Suffolk, so we've all been away from home while we've been doing Emmerdale, so I don't think it was something that any of us were going to do forever. So their decisions to leave didn't come as a shock to me, no."


A lot of Emmerdale fans are quite sad that it's going to be the end for the Wylde family - do you feel the same way?
"Oh yeah, absolutely! I love Lyndon and Amanda, and they're now two of my closest friends. It'll be really hard, because we all spend so much time together every day. We've also had a great journey throughout our time on the soap, and we've had some great drama in the family and played good characters. I know we'll all be very sad to see the back of the family."

Are you pleased with the way that Maisie is going to be written out?
"Yes, my whole journey from last year has just been a huge rollercoaster and it ends in an interesting way, so I'm looking forward to it!"

Do you think Maisie has grown much as a character since we first saw her?
"Yeah, I would say she's grown loads. She's been through so much and it's been an emotional rollercoaster for Maisie and for me! (Laughs) After everything she's been through, she's grown up a lot since she came into the series, so I think I've been very lucky to play a character with a very strong journey."

Would you be interested in playing Maisie again one day, or are you closing that door now?
"I haven't closed any doors!"

Do you think you'll keep in touch with the Emmerdale cast, and is there any one in particular that you'll miss?
"Yes! I'm very close to Sammy Winward and Rokhsaneh Ghawam-Shahidi, along with Amanda and Lyndon. I'm sure that I'll keep in touch with all of those people."

When you look back at your time on Emmerdale, are there any particular highlights or favourite storylines?
"The discovery that Ryan was Maisie's brother and doing all of those episodes were some of the hardest things that I've ever done, but also the most rewarding and cathartic. I also really enjoyed my breakdown storyline - I got to push myself emotionally in ways that I hadn't done before, so that was great. And there's been loads of fun moments - as much as I hated hours and hours of really long Woolpack days, I also had loads of fun because everyone goes into The Woolpack so I got to know lots of people outside of my own screen family. That was really lovely."


Have you enjoyed the romance storyline between Maisie and Nikhil?
"Yeah, that's been great fun. It was enjoyable because it was a new stage in Maisie's journey - it was a chance for me to show another side of Maisie following what had happened to her, so that was great. It was good to see her smiling and in control for once!"

You've mentioned in the past how it can be quite draining to film so many emotional scenes - have you got used to them more as time has gone on?
"It's still difficult because you have to be prepared to take yourself to that place and to summon those kind of emotions, which is quite painful to do sometimes. It takes a lot out of you, and I probably have got used to them a bit more, but I wouldn't say it's made it any easier. But I've done them so many times now and I've got used to the feeling, so it's not such a shock to the system when I've got to do it!"

Will you be bearing that in mind when choosing future roles - perhaps picking something more light-hearted?
"I'd love to do some comedy, actually! I'd really love that."