Natalie Cassidy’s departure from EastEnders has left me bereft.
The soap queen, who first appeared on the BBC drama in 1993, will record her final scenes as Sonia Fowler next month.
It comes just days after I enthusiastically told the rest of the Metro Soaps team that I was looking forward to seeing what bosses have planned for the stalwart at the conclusion of her current storyline.
Poor pregnant Son’ has just been released from prison after being wrongly accused of murder, unaware that her twisted fiancé Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) is the real killer.
To make matters worse, he’s held her sister Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) hostage for months. In a desperate attempt to see the light of day, she recorded a video confessing to the crime.
While successful in freeing Sonia, the door was slammed shut and B’ looks set to die in the storage container she has called home since November.
Doom and gloom has dominated Sonia’s life ever since she first stepped foot on Albert Square as a child.
From teenage bullying to placing daughter Rebecca up for adoption, losing her true love Jamie Mitchell (Jack Ryder) in a road-traffic accident, to her recent imprisonment, she hasn’t had much reason to smile – which is a crying shame, if you pardon the pun.
Nat’ Cass’ is a perfectly capable comedic actress with a cracking sense of humour.
For 32 years she’s been plagued by Sonia’s infamous trumpet.
Some actors would have taken umbrage with viewers remembering a minor story from three decades ago, which followed the schoolgirl’s decision to learn the brass instrument… but not Natalie.
Instead, she’s embraced the novelty and found the camp hilarity in the situation.
During an episode of Secrets from the Square in 2020, she told host Stacey Dooley that the idea was ‘brilliant’ and that she has white van drivers shouting ‘Where’s your trumpet?’ to this very day.
As a result, Natalie has cemented herself as a pop culture icon, even appearing as a special guest on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
In more recent years, she’s made guest appearances in sitcoms Mandy and Motherland, proving that there’s more to her than the misery of the East End.
She’s also a regular guest on Joe Lycett vehicle Late Night Lycett, with him posing the question: ‘Where in the world is Natalie Cassidy?’ in each show.
Cut to a FaceTime call, to find our Nat attending a wedding or sat watching the telly. It’s haphazard, irreverent and bizarre. But it works, because she’s so well loved by British audiences.
EastEnders’ writing has been on top form recently, with some cracking one-liners and snarky quick-witted comments from the Walford locals. But for Sonia, she’s been pushed into a corner of tragedy.
Isn’t it about time she gets a happy ending?
Bosses are keeping tight-lipped over how she will make an exit, and it has to be said that killing off such a major character would be one hell of a way to herald in celebrations for the forthcoming 40th anniversary.
Natalie has left the show twice before in 2007 and 2011. This time, could it be her wish to firmly shut the door on this part of her life?
Regardless of whether Sonia lives or dies, there will be another huge loss – Dot Cotton’s legacy.
While she’s still so fondly remembered by folk on the Square, the chain-smoking icon’s presence is still felt in each scene set at her former home, which has been preserved in aspic ever since June Brown’s last appearance five years ago.
With Sonia gone, it’s likely that her antiquated house with retro furnishings will be redeveloped and lost forever.
As cast and crew are marking a whopping 40 years of the soap – a time in which an old face is around every corner and nostalgia is being served up on a silver (or rather, ruby) platter – they should be holding onto those most familiar.
It goes without saying that they should also be looking forward to the future, as I’m sure Natalie was when she made the bold decision.
She’s already flying high with two podcasts – Life with Nat and Off the Telly, the latter of which she co-hosts with Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page.
There’s also speculation that she’s belting out tunes on ITV’s The Masked Singer each week dressed as a giant costume shrubbery.
But for now, let’s give Sonia Fowler the last laugh.
If there isn’t a heart-wrenching trumpet arrangement of Julias’ Theme planned for Natalie’s final episode, this fan will be bitterly disappointed.
