EastEnders' Neil to exit after Southend pier drama

EastEnders' Neil to exit after Southend pier drama (Image credit: PA WIRE)

Neil McDermott, better known as EastEnders' unlucky-in-love Ryan Malloy, is set to leave the soap after filming dramatic scenes with Jody Latham. Former Shameless actor Jody is reprising his role as manipulative pimp Rob Grayson, who preyed upon Ryan's vulnerable half-sister Whitney Dean in a controversial storyline broadcast in February. She managed to escape his clutches back then, but refused to give up his whereabouts to Ryan - so when the pair finally run into each other, we can expect fireworks. The pair have a tense confrontation in Southend, which comes to a head as the pair face off at the seaside resort's pier, in scenes viewers will be able to catch later this year. Bosses are keeping quiet about whether either of the pair survive the explosive showdown, so it remains to be seen if the door will close on Southport-born Neil returning to the Square further down the line. The 30-year-old actor, who has also appeared in The Royal and Doctor Who, departs EastEnders after two years.

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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.