{"id":418483,"date":"2026-02-10T18:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/418483\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T18:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:44:14","slug":"eastenders-air-explanation-for-missing-characters-permanent-exit-from-soap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/418483\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders air explanation for missing character’s permanent exit from soap"},"content":{"rendered":"

The permanent exit of Jay Brown from EastEnders<\/a> has been addressed on-screen, five months after actor Jamie Borthwick was confirmed not to be returning.<\/p>\n

A short statement provided to Radio Times<\/a> by a BBC Studios spokesperson at the time read: “We can confirm that Jamie Borthwick will not be returning<\/a> to EastEnders. We do not comment on individual matters.”<\/p>\n

Borthwick, who joined the soap in 2006, was suspended in June<\/a> after a video came to light showing him using an ableist slur during his time on Strictly Come Dancing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A brief scene, which explained that Lauren Beale (Jacqueline Jossa) was snowed under at the car lot while Jay cared for his unwell grandfather Bert Atkinson (Dave Hill), aired in September.<\/p>\n

\"Jamie<\/p>\n

Jamie Borthwick was axed from the soap last year.\u00a0BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron<\/p>\n

This was followed by another mention at Christmas, when his loved ones revealed he was spending the festive period with a new girlfriend.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, his step-daughter Lexi Pearce (Isabella Brown) was facing an uncertain future after receiving some news. Viewers saw her slyly slip a brown envelope into her school bag, clearly emotional at the contents.<\/p>\n

AddRadio Times as a Preferred Source on Google<\/a>
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In today’s episode, her other step-father, Callum Highway (Tony Clay), noticed a change in her behaviour. He assumed this was due to Nigel Bates’s (Paul Bradley) hospitalisation, and the impact it would have on her grandfather Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).<\/p>\n

The teen rushed off, and was later found reading a letter and holding a baby scan photo.<\/p>\n

Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) said it was a “big change”, as he’d not only moved away, but he was now engaged and expecting a baby. Lexi said that, although she was happy that she’d be a big sister and would have the opportunity to visit him outside of term time, she wanted things to go back to how they were before.<\/p>\n

The men concluded that she still had a lot of love from those still living in Walford, and that they wouldn’t be going anywhere.<\/p>\n

At the time of his suspension, Borthwick made a statement to The Sun, which read: “I want to apologise sincerely and wholeheartedly for the words I used in the video showing my reaction to making it through Blackpool week on Strictly. I am deeply sorry for any offence and upset my words and actions have caused.<\/p>\n

“It is no excuse, but I did not fully understand the derogatory term I used and its meaning. That is on me completely. Now I am aware, I am deeply embarrassed to have used the term and directed it in the way I did. It was wrong.”<\/p>\n

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n

Visit our dedicated Soaps<\/a> page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers. If you\u2019re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The permanent exit of Jay Brown from EastEnders has been addressed on-screen, five months after actor Jamie Borthwick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-418483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}