Emmerdale director Lee Salisbury has revealed a “badly behaved” soap star was written out of the show halfway through a big storyline.
Lee worked on Emmerdale from 2006 until 2015. He has also worked on numerous other shows including Holby City, EastEnders and Coronation Street.
Recently Lee had a chat with Digital Spy. He was asked if there had ever been any incidents where cast members had been late to set, not turned up or have been written out due to bad behaviour.
Lee told the publication: “There was a person in Emmerdale who wasn’t really behaving and they did write this person out half-way through the storyline.
“I was there for that. But it was all dealt with very well and it proved to everyone else that you can’t get away with anything.
“In a soap there is no one star, as the soap is the star. It’s not like a movie with Julia Roberts!”
Emmerdale stars axed
Whilst Lee didn’t reveal which Emmerdale star was written out, over the last few years, a couple of characters have been written out after the actor was axed.
In 2019, Asan N’Jie, who played Ellis Chapman, was axed from the soap after an incident at the TV Choice Awards.
Asan was caught on camera threatening to stab and kill Hollyoaks star Jamie Lomas in a reported row “over money.”
Later ITV issued a statement confirming they terminated Asan’s contract with immediate effect. It was later reported that he apologised to Jamie on the phone.
Later Ellis returned to Emmerdale played by another actor.
Earlier that year, Emmerdale actress Shila Iqbal was axed from the soap after offensive historical social media posts came to light.
In 2013, the actress posted a series of racist tweets when she was 19 and a student.
Afterwards, a spokesperson for the soap confirmed Shila had left the soap. Shila later apologised for the tweets.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7pm on ITV. There’s an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.
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