It’s a disquieting time at EastEnders.
At the weekend it was announced that boss Sean O’Connor was leaving/had been fired.
This news was swiftly followed by reports that former producer d’or John Yorke was being drafted in.
Although he’s said to be coming back temporarily, his role will be to save the show.
The soap has been mocked for increasingly daft storylines – Denise’s digestive and Bingate, anyone – and tumbling ratings.
During Yorke’s tenure in the early noughties, he took the show to dizzying heights of success, bringing on board the Slater family and those epic storylines – Trevor tormenting Little Mo, and Zoe Vs Kat’s “You ain’t my muvva!”, to name but two.
So, safe to say he’s a steady pair of hands.
But his appointment could spell bad news for some cast members.
The Daily Star claims that York is operating “last in, first out” attitude to characters – which could spell bad news for Lee Ryan.
He came in briefly this spring to play Woody – and proved a big hit. The former Blue star was to come back later this summer, but this could be already up in the air now…
While O’Connor was at the helm, he also brought in the Taylors, Ted and Joyce Murray, Lisa Faulkner as Fi and Eddie Eyre as Josh.
A rep for the BBC is denying any cast futures have been called yet, saying: “It is far too early for any decisions to have been made.”