EastEnders is known for its wild and dramatic storylines with blazing rows and long-running feuds.
But that's nothing compared to some of the rows that are said to go on behind the scenes between actors and their bosses.
Many former stars have lashed out at the BBC show after they left, while others were suspended for bad behaviour or brutally killed off in what they believe was a deliberate move after a row with producers.
Let's take a look at some of the biggest bust ups between EastEnders actors and the producers.
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Louise Jameson
Last year, Louise Jameson, who played Rosa di Marco, revealed secret rows over a dark storyline may have led to her character being culled in 2000.
Rosa died of a heart attack off screen after she’d moved to Leicester, and Louise believes it was because she refused to play Rosa as a racist.
At the time Louise Jameson said she was "gutted" the character she'd played for two years was unceremoniously booted from the BBC soap and it was announced before she had a chance to tell her family.
Louise told The Mirror: "I was really annoyed about the way my exit was announced. I was told the night before it appeared in the papers under the headline, ‘Di Marcos Axed’.
"I thought they could have run it by me a bit beforehand so I could tell my family. It just wasn’t respectful."
She continued: "Shortly before that announcement they’d wanted to run a particular story that I wasn’t happy with and I wonder if that was the beginning of my demise. They were going to make Rosa racist.
"It’s not that I wouldn’t play a racist if the overall feel was anti-racism. But when you’re in a soap, people identify you so strongly with the character you’re playing so I didn’t want to appear racist."
June Brown
In 2020, EastEnders legend June Brown, who played Dot Cotton for 35 years, sensationally quit the soap, claiming she was disappointed with its storylines and the show had "gone up in smoke".
Speaking about her decision to leave on the Distinct Nostalgia podcast, June said: "I don’t want a retainer for EastEnders, I’ve left. I’ve left for good.
"I’ve sent her off to Ireland where she’ll stay. I’ve left EastEnders. I did make up a limerick. It’s a bit dirty. I went back to do a good story. Alas and alack, when I got back it had gone up in smoke.
"I got a small part, a very small part. And that ended up as a big wet fart. Alas and alack, I will never go back."
In 2017, June criticised the show's scriptwriters and admitted that she could be ''very bossy''.
She said: ''It is very difficult to go against the writing.
''If they decide to change you or the writers change, not deliberately or just what happens...I am a great fighter. I'm very much a terrier.
''I try to twist them around a little. There is a way of twisting. It's just the way you say it.
''It ain't what you say, it's the way what you say it. So I must admit to that. I'm very bossy really.
''I think I can do things better than other people which is dreadful but they know I'm like that so it's no surprise to them... the bosses.''
June also referenced ''not so hot' scriptwriters when she collected a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Soap Awards in 2005.
She left the audience in fits of laughter with her acceptance speech, saying: ''I was very lucky with the people I acted with because it's very important whom you have to act with.
''I've been very fortunate because if you don't have good people to act with then you really don't get on very well, as we all know.
''And you have to have good writers. I have been fortunate in having some very, very good writers, one or two not so hot, don't say I said that!''
Jessie Wallace
In January 2020, troubled star Jessie Wallace who has played Kat Slater on and off for nearly 20 years, was temporarily written out of upcoming plots after getting suspended.
An insider claimed that show bosses hauled her off into a crisis meeting after an "incident" while filming, and subsequent reports suggested Jessie was pulled up for being drunk on set.
The well-placed source said Jessie was told during the crunch talks that she would be suspended for two months, and she returned to set six weeks later.
"Bosses were left with no choice but to discipline her," added the insider. "During the meeting she was told to sort herself out before returning to work.
"Scriptwriters are currently coming up with a storyline to explain Kat’s temporary exit from Walford."
Series chiefs were relieved that Jessie had already filmed her scenes on the River Thames for the soap’s 35th Anniversary Special.
An EastEnders spokeswoman said: "We do not comment on artists' contracts," while Jessie herself never publicly commented on her suspension.
Jessie previously got in trouble when she arrived drunk at the British Soap Awards in 2018 and was ordered to leave before the ceremony started.
Shona McGarty
Shona has been an EastEnders favourite for years since joining the soap as Whitney Dean in 2008.
Her character has had to grapple with many dramatic storylines and her personal life in the real world has also had some ups and downs.
In 2012, EastEnders bosses told Shona, who was 20 at the time, that she faced the sack if she did not become better at timekeeping.
She was given a month unpaid suspension from the soap after repeatedly turning up to set late following her breakup from long-term boyfriend Ryan Harris.
The Borehamwood native was also fined about £3,000 to cover the crew’s overtime costs when scenes ran late.
However, she seemed to learn her lesson and upon her return to work, she said she would be curbing her nights out.
"I realise how lucky I am," she said following the suspension. "I’m just going to stay in now. I’m going to try and be good. It’s like a big family on EastEnders.
"And I am going to buy one of those big old-fashioned alarm clocks with the bells on it!"
Sid Owen
In June, it was revealed Sid Owen's planned big return to EastEnders as Ricky Butcher had been axed over a row about pay.
He first starred in the show in 1988, quit in 2000, returned in 2002 then left again two years later before returning for a third and final time in 2008.
He claimed he would "never be back" and had retired from acting, but this all changed when his on-screen sister Janine, played by Charlie Brooks, announced she was returning, and so talks reportedly began for Sid to join her.
It's understood the actor had hopes on a certain figure but it was completely out of the ballpark for what the BBC were prepared to pay him.
A source told The Sun : "Sid was in advanced talks to return to EastEnders earlier this year. Bosses thought it was an ideal time for him to go back to Walford as his on-screen sister Janine has been written back in.
"Obviously Sid jumped at the chance but when they started talking about cash things hit a rut. Sid’s expectations for pay were well out of sync with what the BBC were willing to give him.
"His character is an Albert Square stalwart and having Ricky back in Walford with Janine would be a dream come true for scriptwriters. But all talks of a comeback have been pulled and Sid is back to square one."
Sid Owen's representatives did not comment when The Mirror reached out to them, nor did BBC representatives.
Michelle Gayle
In 2015, Michelle Gayle blasted EastEnders' bosses for refusing to change the show’s ethnic mix.
Executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins sparked anger when he said he would rather quit than "box-tick" characters according to ethnicity after the BBC trust said the show was "too white".
But Michelle, who played the soap’s Hattie Tavernier for three years, told The Mirror: "I was pretty taken aback, I wasn’t expecting a programme maker to say something like that. EastEnders is one of the few contemporary dramas on primetime TV.
"When it first started, you felt it was a snapshot of the East End. It’s been on for 30 years, and obviously the East End has changed dramatically."
She added: "It’s really disappointing to hear a programme maker say 'Reflecting Britain as it is would be a box-ticking exercise'. I would rather he said it was a great or a challenging opportunity."
And the actress said Treadwell-Collins could learn from a previous EastEnders producer who pulled in large audiences when Michelle starred in the soap.
She said: "When I was on the show, I had a black female producer for about a year called Barbara Emile and she was getting 19 million [viewers]. She was getting something right. I don’t quite understand why he has that point of view.”
Michelle, who left EastEnders in 1993 for her music career, continued: "I know the East End well, my grandma has lived in East Ham for over 30 years and I have seen the change. The ethnic mix is so diverse.
"Even when you go to Barking... there are African food shops, Asian food shops, literally you come out of the station and there are three or four languages spoken.
"I think, what a great opportunity to reflect that and how interesting would the programme be."
Michelle added: "I’m doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff now and all I hear from programme makers now is the opposite, that they want more contemporary stories that reflect Britain."
Samantha Womack
EastEnders star Samantha Womack admitted she rowed with the producers and disliked the job so much she vowed only to do stage work from now on.
The actress, 49, is best known for playing the role of Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders for over a decade before her character was killed off in a tragic drowning accident at Christmas 2017.
Ruling out she'd ever return to the small screen, Samantha revealed that on-set bust-ups is just one reason why she feels that the stage suits her better.
"I end up arguing and get sacked," she told the Daily Star. "I would say more of a theatre actress than telly now. It suits me much better in so many ways – the hours, for a start.
"I am awful first thing in the morning, I can’t function. They say people are either night or morning people – well I will happily sit up ‘til four or five am. But when you’re on a soap you have to get up at five.
"And theatre does that. In your 20s, you’re just grateful, but now I really love my job and I hate losing control over how a story is told."
Samantha admitted that the shocking choice to kill off her character and on-screen sister Roxy had been "a huge blow".
She admitted that she wasn't always happy with the way in which her characters were directed, and that this had led to on-set arguments.
"Someone is always telling you what to do with your character and I just get really irritated," Samantha said. "I end up arguing and then getting sacked."
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