The autumn season in Soapland has officially begun. With the evenings getting darker, all of the big

shows are ready to compete for our attention by airing some of their most dramatic episodes of the year

next week.

Soap bosses have been dropping some early teasers on what to expect from next week’s episodes, and in the case of EastEnders, there’s been an exciting new announcement for what to expect beyond that.

Did you miss any big stories this week? Don’t worry, as here’s our regular Sunday round-up of the biggest announcements hitting the headlines.

The week started off on a sombre note, with Coronation Street confirming the official details of Paul Foreman’s final episode.

Paul will pass away on Monday, September 9 as the ITV soap’s long-running Motor Neurone Disease (MND) storyline comes to an end.

Tragically, Paul’s husband Billy is out of the flat when his health starts to deteriorate further, creating uncertainty over whether they’ll get to spend Paul’s final moments together.

Speaking this week about his final scene, Peter Ash – who played Paul – commented: “[The other cast members] are giving those beautiful goodbyes, and I’ve got to pretend to not hear it.

“And especially once he does pass, it’s that thing of trying not to breathe at all, which gets a bit tricky after a while!

“But the scene in general, it was just a beautiful way to end it. Obviously, I’m not going to give anything away apart from that, but it was great to have all my favourites there in my last scene.”

The exciting EastEnders returns just keep coming, with news dropping this week that Louisa Lytton is reprising her role as Ruby Allen for an upcoming stint.

Ruby was last seen in November 2021, when she bowed out shortly after revealing that she was pregnant with Martin Fowler’s child. Martin didn’t believe her, so it’s high time to revisit that unresolved plot point and find out what happens next.

Louisa, who has already started filming her first scenes, said this week: “I am thrilled to have been asked back to the Square to revisit Ruby once more, and to shed some light on what the past three years have been like for her during her time away from Walford.

“I’ve always loved playing Ruby as there is never a dull moment and I cannot wait for everyone to see what Ruby has in store.”

It turns out that Dales bosses may have been saving the budget for next week’s high-stakes fire scenes, which see a blaze take hold in one of Moira Dingle’s barns amid her latest row with Ruby Fox-Miligan.

The blaze forms part of the ongoing mystery surrounding Moira’s health, as she lashes out and accidentally creates the dangerous situation when she thinks she can see visions of her late nemesis Emma Barton.

Moira and Ruby will both be left in danger as the flames spread, while Cain, John and Mackenzie will be involved in the tense rescue scenes.

Beth Cordingly, who plays Ruby, recently shared: “I’ve done lots of stunts before but never with fire. I was quite nervous about it, to be honest. But there were hundreds of people doing it – there were loads of firemen which was very exciting!

“There were stunt people and people doing the fire stuff. Everyone was so experienced and in control and kept checking if we were okay and felt safe.

“At one point a big pillar which was on fire had to fall really close to me. I was obviously looking a bit worried, so the next time I looked up there were two stuntmen! Both were saying: ‘We will put ourselves between you and the pillar if it get too close to you!’ They’d obviously seen me looking slightly nervous.”

Cindy’s exit had been highly publicised in advance, while fans only knew that Tom was leaving when his final episode dropped on Channel 4 Streaming.

Digital Spy caught up with Ellis Hollins – who plays Tom – for an exclusive, in-depth chat about his departure, which you can read right here if you missed it earlier in the week.

Neighbours couple Mackenzie Hargreaves and Haz Devkar have recently been making plans to move to Paris together, so it wasn’t a huge surprise this week when cast members Georgie Stone and Shiv Palekar confirmed that they’d left the show.

Mack and Haz will get married later this month, giving them a happy ending after their year-long love story.

Georgie explained: “As cliche as it sounds, I will miss the people the most. I have met so many lifelong friends on that set, and I will miss seeing them all every day. It is a very special place. I will also miss Mackenzie – I was 19 when I first played her, and it was such a pleasure to play her the last 5 years.”

Shiv added: “I’ll miss everything, the wonderful cast, the incredible crew, the great storylines. The early starts, the late finishes, literally everything – I wouldn’t take anything back or change anything. It’s been such a wonderful experience and I’ll miss all of it.

“I’ll especially miss the share house gang – we really got close during filming, and it hurt to say goodbye.”

Sally’s final scenes air next week when she’s involved in the dramatic stunt at the McQueen house. When the one-year time jump happens afterwards, Sally is no longer living in the village.

Catching up with Digital Spy, Annie explained: “The day that we were all told ‘yay’ or ‘nay’, Hannah [Cheers, executive producer] made it quite clear that they didn’t want to lose Sally and they weren’t killing her off. So, there’s every chance that you will see Sally again.

“Whether that’s six months, or a year, or two years, who knows? I don’t think it’s the last we’ve seen of Sally St Claire, to be honest.”

Reports have also revealed that David Joshua-Anthony, who played Andre Clarke, has left the show too.

After weeks of mystery, Chrissie’s EastEnders return story was finally revealed on Thursday (September 5) as she made a cameo as part of Sharon Watts’ prison storyline.

With Sharon being held for contempt of court, Chrissie bribed a prison guard to have her moved to the cell next door. And there’s much more to come next week…

Tracy-Ann Oberman, who plays Chrissie, recently said: “When I read the script, I just kept thinking this is like Orange is the New Black meets Prisoner Cell Block H, meets Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. It was just great.

“I’ve had so many years of people asking me what happened in Chrissie’s court case, and if she would ever come back because people loved that character.

“I sometimes would wonder what Chrissie was up to so it’s really lovely to be able to come back and revisit that woman. I have to thank Tony Jordan and Sarah Phelps for creating that character and writing for her so well.”