Tiana Benjamin quits EastEnders

Tiana Benjamin quits EastEnders
Tiana Benjamin quits EastEnders (Image credit: PA WIRE)

Tiana Benjamin, who plays beautician Chelsea Fox, is to leave EastEnders after four years, it has emerged. Tiana, 25, who first joined the cast of the long-running BBC soap in May 2006, said the decision to quit had been 'very difficult' but the time was right to move on. Scriptwriters are now expected to pen her departure scheduled for later in the year. In a statement issued via the BBC, she said: "I have had an amazing time at EastEnders and this has been a very difficult decision, but now seems the right time to move on and leave Chelsea behind, even though she's been such a fantastic character to play." Since arriving in Albert Square, Tiana's character has enjoyed her fair share of drama and hardship. Some of Chelsea's most memorable storylines have included the discovery of a half-brother, tracking down her father and developing a cocaine habit. A description on the BBC's EastEnders website says of Chelsea Fox: "Yes, she might seem vain, indulged, and argumentative, but that's just the shield she puts up to protect herself from the world. She's not as tough as she makes out."

Patrick McLennan

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.