EastEnders is hitting back in the ratings war with yet another major cast shake up. The second in two years, an insider said ''it's taken a long time for the damage that was caused to the show to be repaired, the soap is now in the final stages of recovery''.
Characters such a loser Minty, saddo Gary and loner Gus are rumoured to be in the firing line of new producer Diederick Sante who takes control of the flagship soap on 23rd of this month.
Rob Minter & Bert Atkinson are also expected to be shown the door. I can't say I'd miss either!
But the biggest shake up will be in the form of the Fowler family as by come next March after 22 long years they will no longer grace the happy land of Walford.
All is not lost though as producers already have plans for two new families to spice up Walford life next year.
Following in the highly successful footsteps of the Branning and Fox families will come soaps latest Indian family in the form of the Choraria clan, my source said ''this family will be different to any other new family EastEnders have introduced, you will meet Preeti first and then her mother at Christmas before the rest of the family at New Year'' (lets hope they are better than the ill fated Ferreira bunch!) and an as yet unnamed family will take residence in the former Fowler house in early Summer 2007. I'm told think Slaters meet Millers then bigger!
EE bosses are also planning a series of hard hitting plots to grab the viewers including a shock rape, drug addiction, manic depression, a huge affair & prostitution.
There's also the arrival of Linda Henry to look forward as messed up Shirley Wicks and the return of Jean Slater.
Sounds like promising stuff, though I'm not sure about the Fowlers being axed... sad to see some more familiar faces disappear from our screens. Soon we'll have no old characters left