EastEnders’ Danielle Harold reveals moment soap bosses told her Lola Pearce was being killed off

Danielle Harold has shared the moment soap bosses told her she would be axed from EastEnders.

The actress, who played Lola Pearce in the BBC soap, left last year when her character died following a terminal brain tumour. Viewers were left in tears at the emotional scenes as they watched her final moments play out on screen. Danielle has since shared how she was told about Lola’s storyline.

She has revealed that she was informed of Lola’s death a year before she filmed the final scenes. The actress has said she was told so far in advance that it helped her “come to terms” with her soap exit. “With a story like my one in particular it took a lot of planning a lot research a lot of time went into that story, so I actually found out very early, right at the beginning, about a year,” she shared.

Speaking on GB News, Danielle added: “Normally you get about 2-3 months notice, if that so it’s normally quite quick, but I had a very long time to know that I was leaving come to terms with leaving, say goodbye.” Reflecting on the storyline, she shared: “I can’t tell you how difficult those scenes are, especially with the research that we do, we get paired up with people living with brain tumours, which has been so difficult but so uplifting to work with people I can’t tell you how they’ve touched my life, changed my life.

“And playing those scenes you just want to get it so right, because you know how many people are going through that and have had that conversation.” After leaving the soap Danielle headed Down Under for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!. She was the fifth star to be voted out of the show.

Danielle also made an appearance on the Christmas Day episode of EastEnders. A message was played that Lola had recorded to show her daughter Lexi after her death. Danielle recently shared how her hair fell out during her stint in the jungle. During an appearance on Loose Women, she was asked about the worst thing she experienced.

She replied: “My hair was falling out! It was just so bad. Then I was like, ‘Can I get a treatment?’ but they were like, ‘No sorry Danielle’ so just being in the jungle is the biggest shock.” She also touched on rumours that she and TOWIE star Pete Wicks are an item. Reality star Pete was out in Australia for his best mate Sam Thompson, who went on to win the series – and he and Danielle were pictured partying together.

But she’s denied speculation about a romance between them, claiming she’s been friends with Pete for “years”. Danielle explained: “We’ve been laughing so much. No, we’ve been laughing so much bless him. We come out and you go out with all the friends and family, but me and Pete are just good friends. Have been for years, but we’ve been having a good giggle about it.”