BBC EastEnders star Brian Conley reveals Rocky’s devastating exit storyline

Soap star Brian Conley has revealed how his character will bid farewell to EastEnders viewers.

Brian’s character Rocky Cotton joined the cast of EastEnders back in 2021 and fast became an integral part of Albert Square. Avid viewers of the long-running BBC soap will remember Rocky’s explosive arrival as he pretended to be Sonia Fowler’s long-lost biological father.

So it’s perhaps only fitting that his exit storyline is set to be equally as dramatic. Brian, 62, revealed that Rocky has got himself in somewhat of a sticky situation and now doesn’t know how to get himself out of it, without destroying his relationship with Kathy. Things took a turn for him and Kathy on their wedding day when his ex wife, Jo Cotton, turned up in Albert Square and announced that they were still married.

In order to keep quiet about his bigamy, she demanded £50,000. Since then Kathy, played by Gillian Taylforth has been trying to pay off loans while Rocky has got back into bad habits by gambling again. Rocky’s situation became even worse after he put an offer in on a studio flat but realised that he couldn’t afford the deposit. So without wanting to disappoint Kathy, Rocky desperately takes a loan from villain Nish Panesar, played by Navin Chowdhry, which is the beginning of the end for Rocky.

In upcoming scenes, Rocky is convinced that he can appeal to Nish’s better nature as he asks for lower repayments but Nish uses Rocky’s weakness for his own advantage. Brian told Metro online: “(Rocky) hopes Nish might be reasonable because it’s not long until Christmas so he might be lenient. Rocky thinks, ‘maybe he’ll see the light and feel sorry for me’, that would be very unlike Nish, but Rocky hopes he can use a bit of his charm. Of course, it backfires because Nish sees straight through it, and once again, Rocky is between a rock and a hard place!”

Despite Rocky’s best efforts, Nish makes it clear that Rocky will now face severe financial penalties for changing the terms of their agreed contract. Brian went on to explain how Nish treats him with utter contempt and now Rocky is really worried because it underlines how Nish thinks of him.

“By this point, Rocky is grasping at straws and trying to turn to gambling to sort it, but it won’t work. He should know that there’s only one winner in gambling, and that’s the bookies. I suppose in his heart he does know that, but Rocky thinks he’s got no other way of escaping this.”

After keeping a firm eye on Rocky, Nish soon realises that Rocky has a gambling problem and so vows to tell Kathy everything if he doesn’t pay what he owes – which leaves Rocky terrified. Brian added: “He’s scared because Nish holds all the cards now and has a huge game plan. We’ve had lots of these great scenes where Nish wanders up and threatens Rocky. Navin Chowdhry is great, and he’s nothing like Nish!”

Brian continued to recall how they had “a lot of fun” when filming the scenes and branded Nish “a great villain”. The actor noted how it’s only a matter of time before the house of cards come tumbling down on his character – adding: “It’s all going to fall apart for Rocky!”