EastEnders fans have been left asking questions about one major character who has been missing from the BBC soap for a number of weeks now – but what has happened?
EastEnders viewers are scratching their heads, wondering why one character has seemingly vanished into thin air.
The Square has been buzzing with scandal after Nish Panesar got nicked for claiming he killed off Keanu Taylor. Meanwhile, Kat Slater and Alfie Moon’s family is in bits after Jean Slater grassed up their lad Tommy to the social for bullying his own relations.
But even with all the aggro in East London’s favourite soap, some viewers can’t help but ask: “Where’s Lexi Mitchell?” Isabella Brown, who plays the popular Lexi, has been MIA since her on-screen dad Ben Mitchell got banged up in the US for a dodgy fraud scheme.
Her last appearance was July 11, 2024, according to her IMDB. And not a peep about Lexi since Kathy Beale came back from visiting Ben in the clink, despite Lexi supposedly jetting off to the US too.
Fans are all over social media fretting about it, with one Reddit user posting: “I literally just clocked today I’ve not seen [Lexi] for ages. Have I missed something?” Another chimed in: “I would imagine the little actress is having time off after being involved in a major storyline for a long length of time,” reports the Mirror.
“I’m not anticipating seeing much of her going forward. As soon as Lola died and Ben was written out I had a feeling we’d see less and less of her,” said a third. Meanwhile a fourth typed: “This always happens with child actors.”
While it is unclear as to why Lexi has been absent, children in the UK require a license to work as an actor if they are under the school leaving age.
Current government guidelines state that children are not allowed to work without an employment permit, during school hours, before 7am or after 7pm, for more than one hour before school (unless local bylaws permit this), for more than four hours without a one hour break, or without a two week break from any work during the school holidays. But during term time, child actors are permitted to only work 12 hours per week, which includes a maximum of two hours each school day and Sunday.
They are allowed to work a maximum of five hours on Saturdays if they are 14, or eight hours for 15-16 year-olds. So far, Lexi has featured in 24 episodes of the series this year.
Last year, she took on a huge storyline after her mum Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold) was diagnosed with a terminal Glioblastoma brain tumour. Sadly, Lola died earlier this year in scenes which saw Isabella put her acting skills to the test.
She also became involved with her grandmother, Emma Harding – Lola’s estranged mother and built up a bond with the character played by actress Patsy Kensit.
