EastEnders has confirmed the bombshell news that Sean O'Connor IS standing down as producer effectively immediately.
A spokesperson for the show made the announcement late Friday (June 23) that O'Connor was leaving EastEnders to work on a film project with Doctor Who and Sherlock's Mark Gatiss.
O'Connor will be replaced on a temporary basis by John Yorke, who worked as a script editor EastEnders in the 1990s and later took creative control as executive producer from 2000 until 2003.
"I've had an amazing time at EastEnders," Sean said in a statement. "Working with the editorial staff, cast and crew at Elstree has been an absolute privilege. They are the kindest, most loyal and hard-working team in the business.
"But my heart lies in feature films and I'm hugely excited as my film projects are now reaching production. When the BBC asked me to take over at EastEnders, my plan was to stay until the end of 2017 but with production starting on these films sooner than anticipated, I must – with a heavy heart – bid farewell to Albert Square.
"I'll enjoy watching EastEnders go from strength to strength but will miss everybody enormously. Elstree really is a place where you make friends for life."
he didn't last long
That's what I thought
Too long in my opinion!
any truth that steve (phil) behind his sacking over danny (mick) new longer contract and perry (billy) being sacked and killed off
The BBC has denied the recent rumours that EastEnders had plans to kill off soap veteran Billy Mitchell.
There were reports that boss Sean O'Connor was planning to write out the character, who's been played by Perry Fenwick for nearly 20 years since his first appearance in 1998, until Phil Mitchell actor Steve McFadden stepped in and threatened to quit if they went ahead with the idea – leading to O'Connor's exit.
In a statement, a BBC spokesperson has told Digital Spy: "There is no truth in this story, and these alleged conversations have never taken place."
In the wake of O'Connor's exit (and the temporary appointment of John Yorke), there have been plenty of rumours surrounding the future of the show.
Tabloids reported that a huge cull of characters was planned, and that Dean Gaffney in particular was fearing for his job since Yorke previously wrote the actor out in 2003.
Both rumours were debunked by the BBC and Gaffney, respectively, with the spokesperson telling Digital Spy: "It is far too early for any decisions to have been made."
Gaffney also weighed in and compared the rumours to "the type of rubbish Robbie used to sweep up in the market".
Digital Spy
Dazzle (19-07-2017)
The ructions going on behind the scenes with certain actors having disappeared or rumoured to have refused to act out storylines explains a lot about EE's quality over the past few months. It sounds like storylines had to be hastily re-written which never turns out well. I think the quality's on the up again though so SOC's sudden departure is especially bad timing for him.
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