EastEnders' Jacqueline Jossa says her new daughter Ella is 'perfect'

EastEnders star Jacqueline Jossahas tweeted her delight after the birth of her first baby, a daughter.

The 22-year-old actress, who plays Lauren Branning in the BBC soap, gave birth to her daughter Ella yesterday.

She told fans on Twitter, thanking her mother and boyfriend, Dan Osborne, writing: "Amazing. She's perfect."

Dan, who appears on reality show The Only Way Is Essex, added: "So so so so happy to tell you all!! Our baby girl Ella arrived yesterday evening."

EastEnders celebrates its 30th anniversary this week with a live show and live sections in the pre-recorded shows culminating in an episode unmasking the killer of Lucy Beale.

Fans of the show will still see Jacqueline, who has been central to the plot around the murder, this week as she pre-recorded her scenes in the run-up to giving birth. She was never intended to feature in Thursday's live episode.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.