EASTENDERS star Natalie Cassidy has landed a huge new job at Virgin Radio.
This comes as her long-running alter ego Sonia Fowler’s Albert Square exit storyline has been revealed on-screen.
Natalie, 41, has played the long-suffering nurse on the BBC One soap for three decades.
She first appeared on-screen in 1993 but later revealed her decision to leave the award-winning serial drama before the 40th anniversary live episode.
After launching her popular podcast, Off The Telly with Gavin And Stacey star Joanna Page, it seems the actress now has big plans to take over the radio world.
It’s been announced that the star will take to the airwaves on Virgin Radio for her own special show this Easter.
Fans will be able to hear the star from 1pm until 4pm on Monday 21st April via the Virgin Radio app or smart speakers.
Ahead of her show, Natalie exclaimed: “I’m very excited. This year I’m trying to branch out and do brave things, and this is one of them.
“I feel very honoured to have been given a chance on Virgin Radio. I’m a very big fan of the station and music in general.”
The actress added: “So to actually come in and do my own show feels very daunting, but there’s a first time for everything.
“I would love to play Oasis for my first show, just a track, because I love them to pieces. Amy Winehouse is always a good one as well. Valerie, it’s a karaoke family classic.”
Although the star will be giving up a bank holiday, this is something that she’s become used to because of the full-on filming schedule on EastEnders.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy drops biggest hint yet about when Sonia Fowler will return after shock exit from soap” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6370757257112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]She remarked: “Back in EastEnders we’d be filming, we didn’t really have bank holidays. What holiday?
“I’d be at home with the kids, relaxing probably. I say relaxing, I don’t really sit down. I’d probably be cleaning and doing the washing.”
[authenticated-scripts src=”%3Cscript%20class%3D%22palin-poll%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fpollingwidgets%2Fv3%2Fwidget.js%3Fquestion_id%3D112717%26game%3Dpolling%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E” type=”embedded” width=”100″ /]This comes as fans of EastEnders will finally get to see Sonia Fowler depart Walford.
After secretly writing a letter to her father Terry Cant (Glen Davies), he suddenly appeared on the Square, following the release of Bianca’s (Patsy Palmer) true crime podcast.
After she buried her ex-husband Martin Fowler, her daughter Bex (Jasmine Armfield) returned from her travels.
But Terry has invited Sonia and her daughter to get to know him after years of separation, and go live with him in Bali.
EastEnders continues on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer.