Josie Lawrence to leave EastEnders

Josie Lawrence to leave EastEnders (Image credit: BBC)

EastEnders star Josie Lawrence has announced that her character Manda Best will leave the soap in Spring 2010. The actress and comedian has seen Walford's resident Pottery teacher rekindle her teenage romance with Minty Peterson, introduce her son Adam to the Square and even managed to win over unlikely friends such as Shirley and Heather. Problems with Minty and a huge secret that Manda has been harbouring will lead to her leaving the Square. Josie said: "It has been an amazing year at EastEnders and I have made some fantastic friends among both the cast and crew. "I am somebody who likes to do a variety of different projects and now seems the right time to move on." Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk's new weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop Last week, it was announced that Charlie Clements will also be leaving EastEnders early next year.

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.