Annie Wallace has been axed from her role as Sally St Claire on Hollyoaks after nine years, she has confirmed.
The 59-year-old is a trailblazing actress, having become the first transgender person to portray a regular role as a transgender character in a British soap when she joined the show in October 2015.
Introduced as Hollyoaks High's new headteacher, several months into Sally's tenure it was revealed that she was in fact the biological father of John Paul (James Sutton) - and thereafter she became an integral part of the McQueen family.
Talking about her exit, Wallace told the Daily Star: "When I was told my character was going, I was very shocked. I had a bad weekend. But then I got on with it. I don't want to collapse into sobs. That's not my thing.
"I've watched my final scenes and it was bittersweet. I found it really difficult."
Sally is expected to bow out as part of a huge motorcycle-related stunt in next week's episodes - the final set of episodes before the soap makes a dramatic, permanent one-year time jump the week after.
A show source told The Sun: "Annie's loved her time on Hollyoaks but the time for Sally being a full-time character is at an end.
"She will bow out in heroic scenes during the dramatic stunt with the scenes being kept top secret.
"It's not a defined end and the door has been left firmly open for her for a potential return down the line but when the show jumps forward a year, Sally isn't in the village any longer."
Wallace joins a long list of cast members to leave the soap as part of its switch from five episodes a week to three, following the likes of Jamie Lomas (Warren), Glynis Barber (Norma), Stephanie Waring (Cindy), Ellis Hollins (Tom), Matthew James-Bailey (Ethan), Ross Adams (Scott), Richard Blackwood (Felix), Jamelia (Sharon), Theo Graham (Hunter) and Owen Warner (Romeo).
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