Soap arrivals and departures - March 2013

Soap arrival
Hollyoaks - Gillian Taylforth
Who’s she playing? Sandy Roscoe - the mother of five brothers who move into the village.
When’s she arriving? Later this month.
Should we be excited? Yes. After a feisty ‘Celebrity Big Brother’, we had an appetite for more Kathy Beale but sadly she’s dead.
Fortunately ‘Hollyoaks’ is on hand to snap her up.

Soap arrival
Coronation Street – Katie McGlynn
Who’s she playing? Sinead Tinker, niece of Underworld favourite Beth.
When’s she arriving? Later this spring.
Should we be excited? Yeah. She was terrific as Scout, one of our ‘Waterloo Road’ favourites. And she’s going to be providing Chesney some much needed succour after he finds out about Katy. All sounds fun.

Soap departure
EastEnders – Jack Branning (Scott Maslen)
When’s he leaving? Summer.
Why’s he leaving? Scott has had enough. “I've been offered many other roles and just not been able to explore them in the past, simply because of time and commitments to ‘EastEnders’, and so now it feels like the time to tread a new path for a while. I've played Jack for five and a half years and had some fantastic storylines, but it's now time to have a break from him and try something different.”
How’s he leaving? We don’t know. But anyone who messes with Phil Mitchell can expect to come to a sticky end.
Should we be disappointed? Having been fed up of the Branning brothers a while ago, we can’t help feeling that without Jack Branning, the soap will be a tiny bit diminished.

Soap departure
Coronation Street’s Brian Packham (Peter Gunn)
When’s he leaving? Spring.
Why’s he leaving? A ‘Corrie’ spokesperson said: "Peter will leave at the end of his current contract. The decision is purely storyline-driven. Peter is a great actor who has made the character of Brian Packham a joy to watch."
How’s he leaving? We don’t know.
Should we be disappointed? Gutted. He and Julie Carp have had some brilliant comedy storylines which made it all the more heartbreaking, when they had the problems starting a family.

Soap departure
Coronation Street’s Kirsty (Natalie Gumede)
When’s she leaving? She films her last scenes this week! So soon.
Why’s she leaving? Kirsty has come to the end of her time. She tweeted: “I can now confirm what you all suspected: #Corrie is on a Kirsty countdown!! The last 18 months have been incredible, thank you all so much!”
How’s she leaving? She’s getting sent down, somehow. More to follow, shortly.
Should we be disappointed? Yes. Her brutal domestic violence campaign against Tyrone has been brilliantly handled.