EastEnders star Danielle Harold has revealed that she was told she had been axed from the soap a year before filming her final scenes.
The actress left the soap last year when her character Lola Pearce died after a battle with a terminal brain tumour, leaving viewers in tears at her heartbreaking final scenes.
Reuniting with her I’m A Celebrity campmate Nigel Farage on GB News, Danielle said being told about her departure so far in advance meant she had time to ‘come to terms’ with her departure.
She said, “For a story like mine in particular, it took a lot of planning, a lot of research and a lot of time in that story, so I actually found out about it very early on, from the beginning, about a year.
‘Normally you get two to three months’ notice, if that’s the case it’s normally quite quick, but it took me a very long time to know I was leaving, to come to terms with my departure, to say goodbye.’
EastEnders star Danielle Harold has revealed she was told she had been axed from the soap a year before filming her final scenes
The actress left the soap last year when her character Lola Pearce died after a battle with a terminal brain tumour, leaving viewers in tears with her heartbreaking final scenes.
It was previously revealed by EastEnders bosses that after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, Lola would ultimately lose her battle against the disease.
Discussing the moving storyline, she added: “I can’t tell you how difficult those scenes are, especially through the research we do, we are paired up with people living with brain tumors, which was so difficult but so uplifting to to work. with people I can’t tell you how they touched my life, changed my life.
“And when you’re doing those scenes, you just want it to be so good because you know how many people are going through that and have had that conversation.”
After leaving EastEnders, Danielle was a campmate on last year’s series I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! and was the fifth star to be voted out.
Despite leaving EastEnders last year, Danielle returned on Christmas Day, in a message Lola recorded to show her daughter Lexi after her death.
In the scenes, Lola spoke to her partner Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) and her daughter Lexi (Isabella Brown) as they opened their Christmas presents.
Lola told Jay to open his first one while the family were all sitting in the living room, before Lexi told him he was going to run the London Marathon.
Lola then said on the video, “You’re going to crush this, I promise, Lex, don’t let his guard down, okay?”
When reunited with her I’m A Celebrity campmate Nigel Farage, Danielle said being told about her departure so far in advance gave her time to ‘come to terms’ with her departure
To which Lexi replied, “I won’t mom.”
Fans were left emotional after seeing Lola return to the soap as the Mitchell family spent their first Christmas without her.
One viewer took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to comment on the scenes, saying: ‘I really love these Lola scenes. The two big storylines of the year that are connected. It’s beautiful storytelling.’
Another wrote: ‘Lola was such a star,’ while a third said: ‘Lovely to see our Lola.’
A fourth gushed: ‘That video of Lola was adorable, can’t believe she’s gone #Eastenders.’
