Lacey Turner has revealed she decided to leave EastEnders after show bosses refused to reverse their decision to kill off James Bye's character Martin Fowler. In her autobiography, Gold Dust, released last week, the actress said she was still not over the controversial axing, which took place during the BBC soap's 40th anniversary episodes in 2025.
Turner said she approached bosses with several ideas for how Martin could survive, but her attempts were futile. 'It's a decision I found hard to fathom, and to be completely honest, one I'm still not over,' she wrote. 'I kept on asking 'why' – because it made no sense to me, surely there was another way?'
Martin's death and Turner's decision to leave
Martin was trapped and crushed by a fallen roof beam inside The Queen Vic pub during an explosion, where he and Stacey confessed their love for each other, and he ultimately proposed to her, before succumbing to crush syndrome when paramedics removed the beam, dying in Stacey's arms.
Turner said James' exit led her to a major decision. 'What I couldn't be sure of was how Stacey would survive in Walford without Martin, and I didn't know how I'd survive there without James,' she admitted. 'I started to wonder if now might be the right time for me to step away too, I was about to have a baby, James was going, and Natalie Cassidy was also leaving.'
'The more I thought about it, the more I realised I needed some real time out and I loved the idea of taking my foot off the gas and being with my family for a while, so I told them I wanted to go too.'
Returning weeks after giving birth
Her real-life pregnancy left bosses 'turning green', with her due date coming 'scarily close' to the planned live episode that would see Martin perish. 'I promised them I'd be there, even if it was in my maternity dressing gown,' she said, something she followed through with, returning just four weeks after giving birth to take part in the live episode.
'As promised I made it back for the live episode just four weeks after giving birth and then stayed on to shoot Stacey's mental health decline,' she said.
Speaking on her ultimate exit, Turner reflected: 'My final scenes aired in October 2025. I miss Stacey of course I do, but she was tired and she needed a break, and I did as well. She'd run out of things to go through. There's only so much s*** one person can suffer before you think it's time to stop. I don't know what the future holds… I hope it's not the end for Stacey.'
Behind-the-scenes tales from Walford
The story of her exit from the soap is not the only behind-the-scenes tale from her time in Walford. Turner also detailed a supernatural encounter and a serious telling off from bosses, which she shared with Heat magazine before the book's official release.
Detailing an encounter with the spirit of a Walford legend, Turner said: 'One day, after Wendy had passed away, I was standing by the back door debating whether to have a cigarette break when suddenly I felt a great big whack on my bum, I turned and laughed, thinking it was a runner, but there wasn't a soul there.'
'It was only Barbara [Windsor] in that day, but she was down the other end, I was standing in the studio where the Fowlers would film, and I'm convinced it was Wendy telling me to go for a cigarette like she used to.'
On her roasting from the higher ups after she and on-screen bestie Louisa Lytton had been 'really mischievous', she said: 'On one particular day of filming, we'd had enough, we were so exhausted that we ended up with the giggles and couldn't stop.'
'We were sent to the production manager's office for wasting time, only when we got there, during the very serious telling off, Louisa and I kept poking each other in the leg because behind the production manager on the wall was a picture of the two of us dressed up as Peggy and Pat from a Heat photoshoot!'
'I don't know how we held it together, we were crying with laughter as soon as we left the room.'
