EASTENDERS’ star Samantha Womack was spotted licking her former co-star Rita Simons on the mouth, as they enjoyed a mini cast reunion.
Their characters Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell were a huge part of the Albert Square life for a decade until they were killed off in a bizarre drowning plot.
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Samantha, 52, and Rita, 47, have remained close since they were axed from EastEnders in 2017.
So much so, the two women – who joined the soap in 2007 – were seen having a whale of a time last night.
Sam and Rita were spotted having a giggle at The Last Laugh theatre show in London’s West End.
The actresses were there to support fellow former EastEnders star Bob Golding, who played Colin on the soap.
Joining Sam and Rita at the show was Shane Richie who they also know through EastEnders.
The two soap stars look liked they were having a ball and at one point Samantha licked her on screen sister’s mouth.
EASTENDERS’ DEATH
The two stars’ EastEnders’ characters Ronnie and Roxy died after meeting a watery end on New Year’s Day 2017.
In one of the soap’s more bizarre moments, they passed away in a hotel swimming pool on Ronnie’s wedding day.
After she attempted to go for a drunken dip in her bridal gown, she started to struggle as the weight of the dress weighed her down.
Roxy dived in to help – but ultimately both of them drowned.
EastEnders most shocking deaths from Barry’s cliff fall to Ronnie and Roxie’s drowning
SAM’S ‘DEVASTATION’
Samantha previously opened about her “devastation” when she heard her character was going to get the chop.
Ronnie was a big part of life in Albert Square for ten years before a new producer at the time decided her time in EastEnders was up.
The no-nonsense gym owner went through several hard hitting plotlines, including one that saw her suffer from underage rape.
In another shocking scene, she swapped her dead baby for her close friend’s son while overwhelmed with grief.
Samantha shared that she actually thought her character would be able to tackle less gritty scenes when Sean O’Connor joined the soap’s production team in 2017.
“He was coming in, I was excited because I thought she [Ronnie] had got really dark and it become really over-sensationalized,” the actress said in 2023.
“So with this new guy coming in, great, I’d heard he wanted to take it back to kind of reality, less murders. And I was thinking great, that’s right up my street.”
Sadly, that was not what happened and Sean said he wanted to kill Ronnie off instead.
“I was devastated because I wasn’t planning to leave,” Samantha told Daily Star.
“I was ‘like what?!’ First time I ever met him.
“So yeah, I had to drown myself. That was really hard, having to kill someone that I loved.”
MICHELLE Collins has seen her second EastEnders stint boost her bank balance. Yet what stars have quit this year?
The Sun exclusively reported how Michelle, 62, was down to £20,000 in her company accounts when she agreed to a shock back-from-the-dead return to Albert Square last year.
Her character, Cindy Beale, was presumed dead off-camera in 1998.
Yet what about the 2024 exits?
Earlier this summer, loyal soap fans appeared to note how Stevie Mitchell had “quit” the long-running series.
It came after Alan Ford enjoyed just six-months on-screen.
Bobby Beale actor Clay Milner Russell also left this year after five years in Walford.
Fans also feared Martin Fowler actor James Bye would “quit out of boredom” over recent storylines.
Additionally, a host of stars have quit the BBC soap for Hollywood fame.
One of the most successful stars to come from the BBC One soap is Rob Kazinsky.
He played Stacey Slater’s brother Sean Slater from 2006 to 2009, he has starred in Hollywood blockbusters Pacific Rim and Captain Marvel.
Ben Hardy, who quit EastEnders as Bobby Beale almost a decade ago, went on to break Hollywood the following year, when he starred as Archangel in X-Men: Apocalypse.
Since then, he has played Roger Taylor in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and he starred in Michael Bay’s Netflix movie 6 Underground.
Michelle Ryan played Zoe Slater until 2005.
She starred as the lead in short-lived American series Bionic Woman from 2007 to 2008.
