EastEnders: Rita Simons says she was ‘gutted’ to leave show
Rita Simons is returning to EastEnders as Roxy Mitchell in Thursday’s episode as part of a storyline with her daughter Amy Mitchell (played by Ellie Dadd).
Opening up about her comeback, Rita explained she only agreed to return now Chris Clenshaw is at the helm as when she left she felt there was a “toxic” atmosphere on set.
The actress, who left the soap after Roxy was killed off in the 2017 New Year’s Day episode, vowed “I would never go back there”.
However, Rita said Chris has “turned it around” and the atmosphere on set is “different” to when she was last there.
Reflecting on her exit, Rita claimed both she and co-star Samantha Womack who played on-screen sister Ronnie Mitchell were in constant fear they’d be axed.
“Sam and I didn’t know why we were targets of the hit list,” Rita told The Sun.
“You would have thought legacy characters would have some form of safety.
“It did feel personal at the time but I have to add a lot of the cast were scared.
“They were scared to speak, and to speak their mind and speak in-between takes, as we got monitored.”
Rita explained Samantha called her “in tears” when she learned Ronnie would be killed off and she rushed to beg bosses to reconsider.
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However, it was during that meeting she learned her character Roxy would also be killed off.
Rita explained filming was halted several times as both she and Samantha “were in tears”.
“I tried to find someone to help and maybe let us go but not kill us (the character) but there was no one to talk to at the BBC,” she explained.
“It is such a compact factory, you don’t know where to go.
We had been there nearly ten years and we didn’t want that to be the fate of our characters. But it was taken out of our hands.”
EastEnders declined to comment when approached by Express.co.uk.
Rita will reprise her role as Roxy to support her daughter Amy, who is struggling with her mental health.
EastEnders confirmed with the breakdown of Denise and Jack’s marriage tearing the Branning family apart and exacerbating Amy’s mental health struggles in recent weeks, the family attend a group therapy session.
Amy is encouraged to open up about her emotions surrounding the loss of her mum and as she zones out, Roxy appears as a figment of her imagination.
EastEnders airs Monday-Thursday on BBC One at 7.30pm.
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