{"id":459368,"date":"2026-05-21T02:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/459368\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T02:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:38:09","slug":"eastenders-finally-confirms-julies-walford-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/459368\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders finally confirms Julie’s Walford future"},"content":{"rendered":"

EastEnders<\/a> spoilers follow.<\/p>\n

EastEnders appears to have confirmed Julie Bates’ long-term future on Albert Square after she delivered a tear-jerking eulogy at husband Nigel’s funeral<\/a>. Actress Karen Henthorn returned to the soap last summer as Nigel’s dementia storyline began gathering pace.<\/p>\n

This evening’s single-strand episode saw Walford saying its final goodbyes to Paul Bradley’s beloved character, who died at the end of last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"julie<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

As part of Julie’s devastating speech in the church, she looked out over the large group of mourners and said: “Looking at all of you now, thinking of all the people that Nigel loved and lost, I know that that love will go on and his kindness and his laughter, it will live on. And that is the greatest legacy of all.”<\/p>\n

Later, at the wake, she told Phil: “You know, even with all the sad memories, I’m really gonna miss this place.”<\/p>\n

Phil laughed in response: “You ain’t going anywhere. You’re one of us! Like it or not.”<\/p>\n

Julie smiled, but said: “Thank you. I know, but I want to remember him happy. And my happiest memories of him are back home, so…”<\/p>\n

At that point, returning characters Clare (Gemma Bissix)<\/a> and Josh (Jon Lee) interrupted and gave their mum a hug, stopping Phil from pressing any further. So will Julie really leave?<\/p>\n

\"eastenders,<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: 10 huge EastEnders spoilers for next week (25 to 28 May)<\/a>
<\/p>\n

Fans have reacted strongly to the scenes since they debut on iPlayer this morning, with one writing on X<\/a>: “I am absolutely devastated about Julie Bates leaving #EastEnders. Karen Henthorn is a fantastic actress who has really came into her own this past year and moulded Julie into a much loved and cherished character the 2nd time around.”<\/p>\n

Another wrote<\/a>: “I’m not emotionally ready to say good bye to julie tomorrow. karen henthorn, PLEASE DONT GO!!!!!!!!!” <\/p>\n

A third said<\/a>: “Julie has been my favourite returnee of recent times, because it made sense. They didn\u2019t try to write a new story to cover Nigel\u2019s time away, they instead revived a short-term character and massively expanded the role. It\u2019s exactly what soaps should be doing.”<\/p>\n

Fans will have to keep an eye on the BBC soap to see how exactly it plays out.<\/p>\n

EastEnders airs on Mondays – Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.<\/p>\n

Read more EastEnders spoilers on our dedicated homepage<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, a collector’s edition exploring the royal family, is here! Buy The Royals in newsagents or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EastEnders spoilers follow. EastEnders appears to have confirmed Julie Bates’ long-term future on Albert Square after she delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[131124,1105,199112,1107,93,61,60,184510,1135,199111,131322,282],"class_list":["post-459368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-7a84becb-c166-4ce7-9323-f79b5cc6b808","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-eastenders-finally-confirms-julies-walford-future","tag-subsection-eastenders","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}