Rose Ayling-Ellis reveals she is leaving EastEnders to face ‘new challenges’
Rose Ayling-Ellis, known for her portrayal of Frankie Lewis on the BBC soap EastEnders, has announced that she is leaving the show to pursue ‘new challenges’.
The Strictly Come Dancing winner took to Instagram earlier today, Thursday, August 18, to confirm the news to her 541K followers.
Rose, the first ever regular deaf actress on EastEnders, shared a carousel of photos of her and her co-stars over the last two years, including a photo of her pouring a pint in the infamous Queen Vic and chatting to Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, when she visited the soap's set.
The 27-year-old captioned the sweet post, “Start from my very last day on the square to my first successful pint in The Vic and end with the first photo of Frankie”.
“It’s been incredibly special to be @bbceastenders first regular deaf actor. I have loved my time on the show and Frankie has been such an awesome character to play, however now feels like the right time to move on and I am excited and ready for new challenges”.
She continued, “I will always treasure my time on the show and all the incredible people I have worked with, who have supported my growth as an actor these last two years and given me so many amazing memories”.
Many of Rose's celeb pals commented on the post to wish her well for her future career. Her EastEnders co-star Gurlaine Kaur Garcha wrote, “Love you rose. You amazing beautiful girl!!!! So lucky to have met you xxxxxx”. Strictly Come Dancing’s Nancy Xu penned, “ALL THE BEST GIRL”.
Fans also left comments to share how sad they were to see her leave the soap. One fan said, “Gutted but onwards and upwards!”, while a second added, “Will miss you. Good luck for the future xx”.
The Executive Producer of EastEnders, Chris Clenshaw, released a statement saying, “I have only had the pleasure to work with Rose for a short time but she has always been an incredible asset to EastEnders; not just as a phenomenal actor, but as an amazing company member too”.
He went on to say, “We at EastEnders are incredibly proud of everything Rose has achieved- she’s a real trailblazer, and we wish her every success”.
