Kara and Joe Swash announce their split

Kara and Joe Swash announce their split (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Kara Tointon and Joe Swash have split up after a two-year relationship, her spokeswoman has confirmed. The couple, who have starred together in EastEnders and pantomime, are said to still be friends. The pair met when they played brother and sister Mickey Miller and Dawn Swann in the soap in 2005, and started dating three years later. Joe left in EastEnders in 2008 and went on to win I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, while Kara said goodbye to Walford last year. A spokeswoman for the actress confirmed: "They have split up, but they remain friends. "Any speculation about Kara being upset due to Joe's flirting is completely untrue." Get EastEnders storylines first! Sign up to receive our EastEnders Extra newsletter Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk’s weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

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.