EastEnders star Lorraine Stanley has spoken out after the long-running BBC soap aired an exit for her character Karen Taylor.

In an episode on December 8, Karen exited the soap alongside Mitch Baker (played by Roger Griffiths).

Posting to Instagram using the Story feature, Stanley wrote a message to her fans, thanking them for their support.

“I’m totally overwhelmed with the lovely messages,” she began, reposting a clip of her character from the official BBC Instagram account.

“Thank you so much, they really do mean a lot,” she continued, before thanking both her casting agent and Daran Little, an EastEnders writer.

“Big shout out … [Daran] for creating the Taylors, and Sean O’Connor for giving me the opportunity,” she added, with three heart emojis at the bottom of the message.

Stanley’s exit had been teased for a while, whereas Griffiths’ came as a shock.

Karen decided to leave Walford in the aftermath of Albie’s kidnap scandal.

She opted to take the blame when Phil exposed the truth in the pub earlier in the week; that Karen staged a kidnap of Sharon’s son Albie and pocketed the £50,000 ransom money.

However, viewers know that Keanu was the one to set the plan in motion, but Karen decided to protect her son and take full responsibility.

Karen’s final episode saw her and Mitch, along with grandchildren Mia and Mackenzie and Mitch’s daughter Bailey pack their belongings – and Phil’s £50,000 – and make a hasty exit in a van.