BBC EastEnders legend announces new role after being axed from soap

An EastEnders icon has revealed more about her brand new role after being axed from the BBC soap.

Lorraine Stanley has opened up about her part in feature film Departures following her exit from EastEnders, where she had played Karen Taylor for several years. Karen left last year when she took the full blame for the fake kidnap of baby Albie from Sharon to save her son Keanu from being unable to see his son, who later was revealed to be Phil Mitchell's and not Keanu's.

Departures is described as a "British northern gritty comedy-drama" where main character Benji "sets off on a deeply moving quest for redemption and self-discovery", with Lorraine set to play Benji's mother, Janet.

Speaking about her new role, she said: "It was a pleasure to work in Manchester with Lloyd and Neil, and a really lovely cast and crew. This film is an LGBTQ project about grief and loss of letting go of a toxic relationship.

"I was honoured to be offered the part of Janet - Benji's mum as I've worked with Lloyd Eyre-Morgan before and love his style of work. As you'll see in the film, Janet has had a hard past and is trying to support her son throughout his journey in the best way she can (although she has an old-school mentality and can be very brash)."

She added: "I was on my way to the station to go home but decided to have a quickie in Gay Village! We had such a great night and I met some of the loveliest people!! I love Manchester, everyone's friendlier up north."

Filming has begun in Manchester, with Hollyoaks' David Tag, Emmerdale's Liam Boyle, and Waterloo Road actor Olly Rhodes all starring in the movie. It will be directed by Neil Ely and Lloyd Eyre-Morgan.

Announcing her exit a few months back, Lorraine took to Instagram. She shared: "Hey everyone! I’m so grateful for all of your lovely messages this past week. Thank you to Daran Little for creating the Taylors and to the BBC for giving me the opportunity to play such a fabulous character, I’ll be sad to be saying goodbye to Karen Taylor and will miss all the cast and crew at EastEnders.

"However I’m looking forward to my next chapter and excited about being a jobbing Actor again & starting new ventures.Again your kind words of support have been amazing!!! I’m going to miss my Taylor/Baker famalam Clair Norris, Danny Walters, Roger Griffiths and Matthew Morrison. Much love."