EastEnders star Clair Norris admits she's ‘upset' over axing – and has already filmed her ‘dramatic' exit
The actress, 27, joined the cast as Bernie Taylor back in 2017, but following the departure of her entire family over the last few years,
3
Bernie Taylor actress Clair Norris is gutted to be leaving EastEnders
Credit: BBC
3
The actress has been in Walford for eight years
Credit: Alamy
However despite
future
.
Speaking on the
'They gave me the opportunity to learn on the job and also now I am able
take that
onto other things that I do.
'Of course it's sad but at the same time it felt like a natural end, with the Taylors being gone, it kind of felt right. I'm now very excited about the future."
READ MORE ON CLAIR NORRIS
Clair revealed how she took her character's iconic coat as a memento as well as the Walford
Pride
t-shirt she wore during the soap's first ever gay pride event.
She said: "I have taken Bernie's coat. It was so iconic! And also the t-shirt that Bernie wore for Pride with 'Walford Pride' on it, little bits here and there. Also her badge when it was her birthday."
The actress was keeping tight-lipped about the exact details of her exit, which she filmed last month, but teased that 'bad Bernie' will be back.
She said: "My exit is very Bernie, and it's back to bad Bernie. It's very dramatic, and must-watch, I've already filmed my exit and it will play out later this
summer
."
Most read in Soaps
So could we see the return of your mum Karen? "I couldn't possibly say! Maybe, maybe not, you'll all have to watch."
Clair celebrated with the rest of the Albert Square cast, who picked up a whooping eight gongs on the night, and is now planning her
next
move.
Clair Norris looks worlds away from her character in stunning holiday snaps
She said: "My plan is to work out what I want to do. EastEnders is the only thing I've ever done, so all I know is soap.
'I came from college and went straight into it. I think having a varied career, going into
theatre
would be great, and also, doing a drama would be great. I'm open to anything.
'I've just been on holiday which was great and the perfect timing. And now I'm back it's about getting cracking with show reels and self tapes."
3
Despite the sadness, Clair is now excited for what the future holds
Credit: Getty
EastEnders' 40th anniversary cameos so far
With the 40th anniversary of EastEnders coming up, fans are looking forward to some more incredible cameos from iconic faces of Walford's past. But who have we had so far?
Tracy-Ann Oberman
- Oberman returned as Chrissie Watts, a character she last played nearly two decades ago.
Paul Bradley
- Bradley returned as Nigel Bates, a character he last played over 25 years ago.
Micheal French
- French returned as David Wicks, a character he last played two decades ago.
Patsy Palmer
- Palmer returned as Bianca Jackson, a character she last played in 2019.
Ricky Groves
- Groves returned as Garry Hobbs, a character who has not been seen since 2009.
Cliff Parisi
- Parisi returned as Minty Peterson, a character who was last seen on the square in 2010.
Ross Kemp
- Kemp has returned to play Grant Mitchell, a character he first played in 1990. The BBC has described Kemp's storyline as "explosive". Kemp said it was an "absolute honour" to return to the show.
Other aspects of the
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
7 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Premier League soap opera gears up for new campaign
The back-to-school signs are up in supermarkets and the leaves are turning yellow and red as we enter the final days of summer. With evenings drawing in, it's time to put away the snorkels and swimming togs for another year, wave goodbye to the outside and settle in for some comfort television. That's where the Premier League has you covered. While the drama and nonsense of the summer transfer window is becoming a bigger and bigger sporting circus with each passing year, it's still just about playing second fiddle to the soap opera of the Premier League. And what a series there is in store. With storylines aplenty, season 34 of the show formerly known at The Barclays promises more betrayal, heartbreak, and dramatic stare-downs than the last four decades of Eastenders. We're got new faces on the scene, returning heart-throbs, old favourites looking to reclaim faded glory and a couple of nasty villains out for retribution. From an Irish perspective, Keith Andrews stepping onto the Square raises the biggest questions. On the surface, he's bounding into the managerial limelight with a swagger and a glint in his eye but he's also a man with some skeletons in his closet and some powerful enemies lurking in the background. Andrews has been handed an unexpected opportunity to take the reins of Brentford as his first managerial job. Having swapped the pundit chair for the hot seat, there's some murky figures from his past just waiting for him to slip up and let them twist the knife. Roy Keane, who famously said Andrews was up there with the 'biggest bullsh***ers' he'd ever met, will be box office when the Bees first come under the Sky Sports microscope, with Martin O'Neill ready to get his digs in too, albeit from the less glamourous platform of TalkSport YouTube clips. Andrews has a tricky task in replacing a genuinely transformative manager in Thomas Frank. With big performing players like Brian Mbeumo, Christian Norgaard and Mark Flekken all departing, he has a huge task on his hands, which is why the bookies have him down as the favourite for the sack race If Andrews is the man likely to feel the early heat, Liverpool boss Arne Slot is riding on a crest of a wave heading into the new campaign. Cantering to a surprise Premier League title win with Jurgen Klopp's creaking squad, Slot has spent hundreds of millions of pounds bringing in new big name players. With the chase for Alexander Isak still trundling along, Slot's Liverpool could eclipse Chelsea for the highest ever transfer window spend. Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and tragically Diego Jota all had to be replaced, but could it be a case of too much, too soon? Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong are already through the door and with the possibility of Isak, Marc Guehi and Giovanni Leoni following, that's a lot of first-team players to integrate in a short time. Home and Away fans of a certain age will still speak of the generational trauma that was inflicted on them when Pippa's actress was recast overnight without any on-screen reference to the change. Sudden breakneck upheaval like Pippa's switch and Liverpool's summer transfer window can take time to settle and a questionable second-half performance in the Community Shield already has rival teams wondering if they could be vulnerable in the early stages. Manchester United, meanwhile can only look on at Liverpool's summer turnover in envy. As the Sky Sports News deadline day counter ominously ticks down, the Old Trafford club are still no closer to getting their high-earning deadwood off the books. Marcus Rashford still remains a United player, albeit one out on loan for the season at Barcelona, while the club have been unable to attract any meaningful interest in the rest of their bomb squad. With Antony, Jadon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho and Tyrrell Malacia still training separately and no closer to leaving than they were at the start of the summer, Jim Ratcliffe is looking more and more like a frustrated Peggy Mitchell trying to sling the drunks out at the end of the night screeching "get outta my club!" to little effect. United have at least been able to bring in some new faces, albeit they're now shopping among the second tier of available players following several disastrous seasons and a 15th place Premier League finish. Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha are the headline signings and they're eager to add Brighton's Carlos Baleba to their ranks. Decent players all with plenty of potential, but United have a habit of draining players of their promise and Ruben Amorim still has much to prove. Meanwhile, having already spent £214million, after pleading poverty at Christmas time, you have to wonder just how much those tea ladies given the elbow by Ratcliffe were earning. Across the city in Manchester, Pep Guardiola is hoping he can write his own redemption story arc after the wheels came off for the Sky Blues in spectacular fashion last season. With old stars like Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker being written out, City have undergone the kind of TV seasonal reset that you can only really have when you set fire to the pub or crash a plane into the village in the Christmas special. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Guardiola has stuck around for another go. Between the winter transfer window and the current one, City have undergone a huge overhaul and while the signs were promising towards the end of last season, a poor start could see more questions being asked of Guardiola. He should have enough credit in the bank with the club's owners to weather out any early storms but his increasingly tetchy press conferences and head-scratching antics last term hinted towards a man who could jump before he's pushed if things don't go to plan. Jack Grealish knows just how changeable Guardiola can be when it comes to things not going his way as the most expensive player signed by the club has decided to cut his losses at the Etihad and high-tailed it to Everton. Grealish's move to the Toffees looks guaranteed to be entertaining, no matter how things go on the pitch and like all good soap opera pretty boys, Jack knows how to party. The midfielder's recent career trajectory saw him win the treble with City and then never quite find his way back from the celebrations. Now he's made the move to Everton and with his first move, has taken the number 18 jersey in honour or Paul Gascoigne and Wayne Rooney. In fairness, both Gascoigne and Rooney were exciting, creative players, but both knew how to enjoy themselves off the pitch. Hopefully Grealish takes more inspiration from the sporting side, rather than emerging in a couple of years like a bedraggled and bearded Ian Beale. Should he find himself in a moral quandary or too tempted towards the call of the party lifestyle, in fine soap opera tradition, he can have a sit down in a laundry and a heart-to-heart with a wise old head who's seen it all before. James Milner, the Dot Cotton of the Premier League is now gearing up for his 23rd season as a Premier League player and looking back wistfully on all that's gone before him. Speaking ahead of Brighton's season opening at home to Fulham, it's clear that Milner is starting to feel the weight of the years on his shoulders. "There are lads I played with at the start of my career whose sons I'm now playing with or against: Justin Kluivert, I played with his dad at Newcastle; I played with Bobby Clark at Liverpool and played with his dad at Newcastle; Tommy Watson's girlfriend is Ian Harte's daughter." So as the new season kicks off, with Milner slowly morphing into a sentient Shoot Magazine archive, Grealish trying to remember if he left his Gucci washbag in the Grafton, and Andrews eyeing Keane like a man checking for sharks in a pool, the Premier League remains the greatest soap opera we've ever seen.
RTÉ News
11 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Neighbours legend Stefan Dennis joins Strictly hopefuls
Neighbours actor Stefan Dennis has become the latest celebrity to be confirmed for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One. The Australian TV star told ITV's This Morning that he is "very, very excited" to be doing something outside of his comfort zone. He also said his wife Gail Easdale has been helping to teach him how to dance but said: "That doesn't mean I'm any good." They will join the likes of Love Island winner Dani Dyer-Bowen, former footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and model and CBBC actress Ellie Goldstein in the line-up for the series, which begins next month.
The Irish Sun
11 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Second MasterChef contestant edited out of series after BBC's decision to air despite John Torode & Gregg Wallace axings
CHEF OUT Second MasterChef contestant edited out of series after BBC's decision to air despite John Torode & Gregg Wallace axings A SECOND contestant has been edited out of the latest series of MasterChef following the scandal surrounding its former hosts. The aspiring chef, who asked not to be identified, didn't want to appear on the show given "recent events". 4 Gregg Wallace and John Torode were sacked from the hit show Credit: BBC 4 The series went ahead despite the scandal Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 4 Sarah Shafi said she didn't want to be in the show and asked producers to edit her out Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 4 MasterChef's last episode had a bizarre editing blunder as a contestant nodded to no-one after a chef asked to be cut over the Gregg Wallace scandal Credit: BBC It follows a report which upheld claims against axed hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode. Sarah Shafi was the first contestant to pull out of the show after telling producers it shouldn't be aired. The episode which would have featured the unnamed contestant was broadcast on BBC One on Wednesday. But it only featured five chefs rather than the usual six, the BBC reported. Sarah, from Leeds, believed airing Masterchef would send the wrong message about what happens after women report misbehaviour by powerful men. The 57-year-old rejected an offer by MasterChef's producers Banijay to edit her out of her episode, wanting them to axe it entirely. She was "flabbergasted" by the suggestion, but agreed once it was announced the series would air. She told The Guardian: "I said: 'Axe the show, don't air the show. I'm asking you not to air the show.' "Prominent figures have been abusing their power. What message does that send out to women?" The former contestant said she didn't want to be part of a show with an "enabling environment". It was said to be "quite a heated conversation". A spokesperson for production company Banijay said: "One other contributor decided that given recent events they would like not to be included," the BBC reports. "We have of course accepted their wishes and edited them out of the show." The latest series of MasterChef was hit with controversy in the weeks leading up to its launch, with hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode being axed from presenting future series. However, the BBC ultimately decided to air series 21, which had already been filmed. The latest episode - the fourth in its run - saw five amateur cooks enter the kitchen, rather than the usual six. But the long shot of the group outside walking towards the kitchen was missing, and instead, the edit featured close ups of their faces or in pairs. Once inside, John and Gregg explained how two cooks would automatically go through to the next round after cooking their first dish. In a bizarre moment, contestant Hazel gave a thankful nod before looking to the side, but as far as viewers could see, there was no one on Hazel's left that she would need to acknowledge. A spokesperson for Banijay previously said: "As we said when we announced the show would be aired, this was not an easy decision in the circumstances and we appreciate not everyone would agree with it. "Banijay consulted with all the contestants before that decision was made and there was widespread support for it going ahead. "The focus of the series is the contestants, as it always is. "The edit has been looked at in light of the upheld findings." More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.
