Josie Lawrence explains 'Enders exit

Josie Lawrence has explained how she decided to leave EastEnders.

The comedienne, who told DS of her departure last year, insisted that she had enjoyed her low-key stint on the programme.

She claims that bosses were too busy working on the Archie Mitchell storyline to properly plan an exit storyline for her character Manda Best.

She told Sunday Mercury: "I really enjoyed my [one year] stint on EastEnders, especially the people. But I like having variety in my career. So when my contract came to an end, I went to see the boss and said 'It’s been lovely but can I go now please?'.

"He understood - he called me a wandering minstrel! But they had been expecting me to stay on, so they admitted they didn’t have much time to come up with a good storyline. They were all too busy with Archie’s murder so my exit was much more low-key."

It was recently announced that the star's on-screen romance Cliff Parisi, who plays Minty Peterson, was also leaving the show.

Lawrence joked of her final storyline: "I wanted Minty to go and make a cup of tea, then return to find nothing left of Manda but her pixie boots and a puff of smoke."