Danielle Harold praises EastEnders boss for Lola's emotional exit

Actress Danielle Harold is therefore departing the BBC One soap after news broke that she was being written out last year following the arrival of new executive producer Chris Clenshaw.

Speaking at a press screening of Lola's final episode, actress Danielle Harold revealed to RadioTimes.com and other press how pleased she was with the handling of her character's departure.

Harold commented: "I can't thank Chris enough for giving me the best exit. Like I really can't thank you enough for the way that it's been done and it's not just been the exit. It's been, from when Chris made this decision, he really did let me play out all of Lola’s life in this space of a very short time. It's been a bit crazy, hasn't it? So, fitting everything in. But obviously, I've been at the show for so many years that we've not really dug into Lola, at all, over the years. So to be able to find out her whole life in this space. It has been pretty amazing for me to play. Obviously having my mum [Patsy Kensit as Emma Harding] there. There's just been so many different things that I've always wondered about Lola so to like find that out with Chris and find what would have happened, why was she - it's just been such a lovely journey to actually fulfil before I go, definitely."

When asked if this gave her a sense of completion with the character, Harold answered: "Yeah, definitely. I just felt like when obviously we had the conversations, I just felt really like ‘No, she's got so much, she has so much to give’, and Chris was like ‘We will show that this year. We're going to dive into Lola but really, really make sure this character is, well, found out, really, a little bit before she dies.’ And he's definitely done that justice in any way he could have done because I've literally been like, ‘What about this? What about this?’ Even just little bits. He’s just been so amazing in making Lola’s life just makes sense."

However, it was not just Harold who was keen to make sure Lola had a worthy goodbye.

Clenshaw himself added: "It’s what Lola deserves, isn’t it? It’s what we’ve been wanting for a long time, I think and, you know, it's really, it's incredibly difficult. I think it's fair to say that none of us, none of us want to say bye to Lola and none of us want to say goodbye to Danielle and, but I think that's, you know, that's the character that Danielle has kind of created and is so well loved and you can only really tell a story like this with a character that is so loved. So that's, that's testament and credit to [Danielle]."

Harold responded to Clenshaw: "When you told me that I was like, ‘I don't think she is. I don't think you're gonna get this big thing that you want.’ Because it's me.”

"Yeah, so for me, it's been so overwhelming, because I've never felt like that character like Chris thought I was. So it was a catch-22, but Chris saw that in me."

Chris later added: "It wasn't a decision that we, kind of, took lightly. It was something that we discussed for many months, actually, and, you know, interrogated and we wanted to kind of make sure that it was the right decision. But I think through the research that was presented, that's why we committed to the storyline, and yeah, they have been kind of they have been overwhelmed by the kind of the, the awareness that it raised, and [Danielle] has been speaking to people directly."

Noting her immersion in the research into the storyline, Danielle explained: "It's been, kind of, hard for me to switch off. I've not really wanted to switch off with this relatability because I've just got to meet so many people that are living with brain tumours, people that have lost people to brain tumours, children that have died to brain tumours and it's just, it's become such a huge of my life working with these people, and I can't, I genuinely can't thank them enough for reaching out and sharing their stories with me and I say with all these people crying and telling their stories and it just makes you want to do it even more true than you ever imagined because you're there and you can't help it but it becomes a part of your life, and definitely, it's been amazing."

Lola's final scenes will be broadcast on Wednesday 31st May 2023.

For information, help and support on matters associated with this storyline, head to Macmillan Cancer Support or Brain Tumour Research.

Read More

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• EastEnders’ Danielle Harold: Lola’s death “the most difficult thing” she’s ever filmed
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• EastEnders boss Chris Clenshaw says Lola’s death was decision “not taken lightly”
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• EastEnders’ Max Bowden posts moving personal message amid Lola story
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• Sam Mitchell to return to EastEnders ‘before the autumn’ after surprise exit
• EastEnders' Danielle Harold pays tribute to Lola's story

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