Sonia’s final episode featured a callback to her trumpet skills(Image: BBC)
EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has revealed what left her ‘really cross’ after watching her soap exit play out on TV.
In scenes that aired on Thursday, April 17, Natalie’s character Sonia Fowler left Albert Square for Bali, along with her daughters Bex and Julia, and her sister Bianca Jackson.
Fans were prepared for the moment, with Natalie confirming at the beginning of the year she was leaving the role she had played since she was 10 in 1993.
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Sonia’s exit storyline saw her finally meet her dad Terry Cant, only for him to turn out to be much meaner than she hoped.
Driving off into the sunset with her family, Sonia pulled out her trusted trumpet for final tune as Julia’s theme played over the closing credits.
Despite fans loving Sonia’s final episode, Natalie has opened up about one thing she wasn’t happy with about the farewell.
According to the mum-of-two, a scene was cut between Sonia and Phil Mitchell, with the pair being involved in various storylines together over the past three decades..
EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy(Image: BBC)
She said on her Off The Telly podcast: “I felt quite emotional but, do you know what? Maybe I’ve missed it because I wasn’t watching it properly, but I feel like they cut out the scene which was my favourite scene.
“It was Sonia and Phil [Mitchell] and me and Phil just having a moment in the Square. I didn’t see it.
“I’d be really cross because it was a really nice scene. Anyway, she left on a speedboat with her trumpet and I’ve had loads of DMs and messages and stuff just saying how people have shed a tear, but a happy tear.”
Sonia and Phil’s biggest storyline arrived following the death of her boyfriend and his godson Jamie Mitchell, who was tragically knocked down by a car driven by Martin Fowler.
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Phil initially blamed Sonia for the accident, but they managed to get past the death and grow a close friendship in the following years.
Outside of that, Natalie had no other complaints about her exit, which marked a rare happy goodbye for a Walford resident.
“It was nice and joyful, it wasn’t sort of depressing, [she] didn’t leave in a black cab, it was just fun,” she told her co-host Joanna Page.
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Since wrapping up her time on the programme, Natalie has already gone on to present an Easter Monday show on Virgin Radio.
Opening up about the experience, she said: “It was really good. It was nerve-racking, but again, it’s just another thing to tick off the list. A little bucket list of firsts, but it was good.”
