EastEnders fans have shared their fears for a star who appears to be ‘missing’ from the soap despite having been a fan favourite since the character debuted nearly 20 years ago
10:01, 05 Nov 2025Updated 12:05, 05 Nov 2025
Zaraah Abrahams took over the part of Chelsea Fox for the character’s return in 2020(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
EastEnders fans have shared their fears for a star who appears to be ‘missing’ from the soap. Zaraah Abrahams took over the part of Chelsea Fox for the character’s return in 2020 after a decade-long break and has been a regular ever since but eagle-eyed viewers of the BBC programme, which airs four times a week, have pointed out that she has appeared just 33 times this year.
The Albert Square: After Dark podcast account kicked the debate off, writing: “We are in November. Chelsea has appeared in 33 episodes in 2025. Can we fix this madness please?” and one of the first replies read: “Shame!!!!! Fix it! Now!!” Other fans soon piled in, noting that Zoe Slater, who made a much-anticipated comeback to the programme just mere months ago, is likely to take over from Chelsea in appearances despite being around for a much shorter amount of time.
One fan wrote: “Im sorry. 33. That is absolutely Ridiculous. At this rate Zoe will probably overtake her very soon. And Okie,” the podcast clarified: “As of today, Zoe is already tied with Chelsea for appearances this year! Okie is currently on 30!” Another fan claimed: “Yes it seems [executive producer] Ben Wadey has completely forgot about her. He is overly focusing on the Slaters lately sadly.”
READ MORE: EastEnders Bernie Taylor star lines up return to soap four months after exitREAD MORE: EastEnders fans realise ‘what’s really going on’ with Zoe Slater in sad twist
As Chelsea, Zaraah has played out a number of dramatic storylines on the soap (Image: BBC/Kieron McCarron/Jack Barnes)
Chelsea first appeared on Albert Square in 2006, alongside her mother Denise Fox, and at that point she was played by Tiana Benjamin. Over the course of four years, she was involved in several love triangles with various characters and discovered that her father was a serial killer before leaving for Spain.
In 2020, Chelsea made a comeback to Walford, now played by Zaraah Abrahams, who at the time was known for having played factory worker Joanne Jackson in Coronation Street and school bully Michaela White in Waterloo Road. In 2021, she married Gray Atkins, and they had son Jordan thogether, although it became apparent very quickly that he was controlling and he was jailed after murdering several residents of the East London borough.
Chelsea also had a relationship with Ravi Gulati but he had an affair with her mother Denise and this led to a fractured relationship between the two.
In the summer of 2024, Chelsea was caught up in drama involving the Notting Hill Carnival celebrations when she was wrongly implicated for overselling tickets at Peggy’s nightclub that led to a stampede and almost killed a few people. Despite all the prominent storylines, Chelsea has not appeared much this year – and was last seen in an episode that aired in early September.
Despite her strong background in soaps and drama, Zarah, who began her career starring in the ITV adaptation of Dame Jacqueline Wilson’s Girls In Love in the early 2000s and also appeared in two episodes of The Bay in 2021, insisted that she was going to ‘stick with EastEnders’ in the long term.
But she has only made 33 appearances this year and was last seen on screen in September (Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
Speaking to Inside Soap about the prospect of joining another soap, she said: “No thank you, I’ll stick with EastEnders. I feel as though I’ve landed on my feet playing Chelsea. I love working in Peggy’s because so many other characters come in and the boss is always changing.”
The actress has also notably taken part in Dancing on Ice, competing in 2008 and coming in third place, before returning in 2014 for the All Star series. She was first partnered with Fred Palascak and claimed her boyfriend at the time wasn’t worried about her falling for him, and instead encouraged Fred to ‘hold her tighter’ when skating.
Despite her career success, there was a time when Zaraah almost considered quitting acting for good, but then she was given a dream role by Hollywood director, Spike Lee, who told her she could be “the next Halle Berry”. Spike spotted Zaraah in a short film called Black Girl in Paris and cast her as the lead in his movie, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus when she was 26.
This was perfect timing for Zaraah, as she’d become disillusioned and frustrated with her struggle to hit the big time. She said: “I did a short film called Black Girl in Paris which went to the HBO Festival where it was nominated for short film of the year. Spike saw it there then he emailed me directly and said he liked what he saw and that he had a lead part for me in a new film.
“When I got the email I stayed quiet for five minutes and my fiance said, ‘Are you OK? You seem a bit quiet’. And I was like, ‘Yeah, Spike Lee just emailed me’. So I told him what he said and of course I went to meet him. He was pretty scary. We met up and he gave me the script and I was shaking. I was so nervous. It was a bit awkward because one of the first things he did was point to my bag and say: ‘That isn’t big enough for a script’. I had two days to rehearse for my audition and that was it.”
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .