'they had to go'
EastEnders boss Sean O’Connor ‘had to kill off Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell’ as their ‘characters were exhausted’
EASTENDERS boss Sean O'Connor has revealed he had to kill off sisters Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell because the characters were "exhausted".
The two dominating characters met a dreary end in the New Year's Eve episode when they drowned in a hotel swimming pool.
7
O'Connor has now opened up about the exit of the popular characters, played by Samantha Womack and Rita Simons.
He insisted the writers had to give the girls the boot because there was no way to take their stories any further forward.
In a chat with , he explained: "When Ronnie and Roxy burst onto the Square all those years ago, they were amazing...
7
7
"But as they were so popular they were given a huge amount of plot.
"By the time I arrived, the characters were exhausted.
"I felt it was fairer to Sam and Rita to say... 'We're going to make your exit a great one to remember.'
7
Most read in TV & Showbiz
7
"There was no way that the Mitchell sisters would leave in the back of a taxi."
The emotional exit episode started with joy as it appeared Ronnie was finally about to get her happy ending as she prepared to tie the knot with Jack Branning – but it didn’t take long before the big day took a dramatic turn for the worse.
After a drunk Roxy decided to take a swim, she soon found herself in trouble.
7
Ronnie jumped into the pool to save her, but the weight of the dress pulled her under and the pair drowned together.
Jack has been struggling to come to terms with his loss ever since as he attempts to raise the couple's children alone.
Ronnie and Roxy arrived in Walford fresh from running a bar on the party island of Ibiza and they opened up a nightclub on the Square.
7
They made their entrance in 2007 and spent 10 years on Albert Square before their untimely end.
Samantha previously walked away from the show in 2011, after her controversial baby swapping story line led to her being bombarded with verbal abuse in the street.
But she returned to the soap when Ronnie was later released from prison.
The actresses are now both tackling stage projects.
Topics