Warning: This article contains spoilers about this week's episodes of EastEnders which have yet to air on TV.
Tanya Franks has left her role as Rainie Highway on EastEnders after 15 years, it has been confirmed.
The actress has played the part on and off since 2007 and has appeared continuously since 2018 but left the soap in scenes shown during iPlayer's first-look drop of this week's episodes.
In recent weeks, Rainie has been struggling with husband Stuart's (Ricky Champ) inability to connect with their baby son Roland - and the drama came to a head this week as she delivered him an ultimatum.
Rainie told Stuart that he either had to get help and accept Roland or she would leave Walford for good.
When Stuart failed to show at the deadline, Rainie got in a taxi with Roland and left the Square as Callum, Vi, Bernie and Mitch watched on.
Franks's exit comes one week after Maddy Hill left her role as Nancy Carter in similarly abrupt fashion and comes ahead of the departures of Danielle Harold (Lola), Champ, Danny Dyer (Mick), Dayle Hudson (Peter), Barbara Smith (Dana) and Kelsey Calladine-Smith (Jada) over the coming months.
This week's EastEnders episodes will air Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC Two and are available now on iPlayer.
Neil Wilkes
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