EastEnders icon Cheryl Fergison rips into soap for 'normalising violence'

Cheryl Fergison will forever be an EastEnders icon, but she doesn’t exactly have glowing reviews of the BBC soap nowadays.

The actress bowed out of the long-running show in 2012, when her much-loved character, Heather Trott, was killed by Ben Mitchell (played by Joshua Pascoe at the time).

Heather was a favourite amongst fans, forever bringing the comedy with best friend Shirley Carter (Linda Henry).

However, the 57-year-old now believes EastEnders has ‘lost its way,’ due to the amount of violence on-screen.

Speaking to the Daily Star, she began: ‘I am not the morality police but I do think EastEnders has lost its way a little.

‘I think people are craving for something more relatable and familiar rather than sensationalised.’

Cheryl – who joined EastEnders in 2007 – continued: ‘It has become a bit far-fetched. There are only so many killings and serial killers.

‘I remember when Arthur Fowler nicked the Christmas fund was big news. Now it is all about how many people can be stabbed or shot in the Square.’

Explaining that this isn’t ‘the right image for soaps to give,’ she went on: ‘I think it is normalising violence to younger people. I also don’t think that’s what people want to watch anymore.’

Instead, Cheryl wants the soap to ‘go back to basics’ and focus on ‘community’.

‘They did that in Covid a bit but then lost it.’

Cheryl did praise the soap for striving to ‘educate people’, saying it’s ‘great’ that the current storyline with Zack Hudson raises awareness around HIV.

‘But then they will also do ridiculous storylines for ratings and I think, why did you do that?’, she then argued.

‘It is like giving with one hand and then taking with another.’

What’s more, Cheryl criticised soaps for ‘age discrimination,’ with casting teams choosing to hire more young stars instead of less older ones to keep costs down.

‘I think they need to look at quality as well as quantity and cost.’

Following her appearance on EastEnders – which has been on air for 38 years – Cheryl has made a variety of television appearances on shows such as This Morning and Loose Women.

She also teaches singing lessons between jobs.

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