Two EastEnders exits in early BBC release as characters flee Walford for good
This article contains spoilers for tonight’s episodes of EastEnders, which air on BBC Two at 7pm or can be streamed now on iPlayer.
Bernie Taylor (Clair Norris) and Felix Baker (Matthew James Morrison) have called time on their life in Albert Square.
Their exits were confirmed earlier in the year, with Clair revealing on social media today that this really is the end of the road for her.
Saying that EastEnders was her ‘first audition’, and that she came with ‘no experience’, the actress took time to thank a number of crew for taking a chance on her.
‘It’s true what they all said at the beginning, EastEnders is one big family,’ she continued.
‘I’m so lucky to have worked with some amazing people. I will always have an attachment to Bernie, she represents so many girls out there who wear their heart on their sleeve and don’t quite fit in… no offence to anyone who wears purple coats.
‘I have adored playing her and she will always hold a special place in my heart.’
It’s been a dramatic week for the character, and it’s only Tuesday!
As viewers of the soap have learnt, Bernie has been stealing thousands of pounds from the Panesar family’s business accounts after being made a trustee by twisted patriarch Nish (Navin Chowdhry).
He’d took the blame for her brother Keanu’s (Danny Walters) murder, but she knew that it was actually six of our favourite East End leading ladies.
Fearing that her fraudulent behaviour was about to be exposed, she made a last ditch attempt by pinning the blame on Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig), who had been acting as accountant.
To make matters worse for Vicki, she had actually wanted in on the scam, demanding half of the money in exchange for her silence.
In the first of today’s two episodes, she was furious to see that she still hadn’t received her share from Bernie. What she didn’t realise was that Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) was plotting his revenge, and he wasn’t going to let her off lightly.
He lured her partner’s son Joel Marshall (Max Murray) into his restaurant, before locking him in the walk-in freezer. Using Joel’s phone, Ravi then instructed Vicki to head over to Walford East.
She pleaded for the Panesars to believe her innocence, and Suki (Balvinder Sopal) gave her the benefit of the doubt. She told Ravi to set Joel free – but Vicki still had 24 hours to confess.
Bernie watched on with a smug face, unaware that Ravi had actually clocked onto her devious ways and was actually just buying time to find concrete evidence of her wrongdoings.
She booked flights for her and Felix to move to Spain, and then produced her laptop to further incriminate Vicki.
Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) then dropped a washing up bowl full of water over the device, so that Ravi could take it ‘for repair’ – actually getting brother Vinny (Shiv Jalota) to install spyware onto it.
The drama continued in the second instalment, as Bernie began to pack her bags and say her goodbyes.
She urged Felix to join her, telling him that she’d seen his boyfriend Johnny Carter (Charlie Suff) cosying up with Callum Highway (Tony Clay). Felix told her that he wanted to be able to make his own decisions, and she should go without him.
However, matters quickly escalated when he caught the men kissing, and he made a split second decision to head to Spain. Felix also couldn’t get over the fact that Johnny was well aware of Keanu’s murder.
Having transferred a final £25k payment into her account, Bernie booked a taxi. But Suki was blocking her path.
Bernie pleaded with her, Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), asking them to allow her to start afresh. They’d all had an opportunity to return to normality following Keanu’s death, but she couldn’t.
Suki remained adamant that Bernie wasn’t going anywhere – but when the other women began to pity her, she stepped to one side.
Bernie and Felix boarded a taxi and drove off into the distance, as a frantic Ravi tried to stop them. A delay on the spyware meant he’d only just seen her transfer the cash.
Back on Turpin Road, Suki hugged her wife Eve (Heather Peace), knowing that The Six’s ordeal was finally over.
