After months of speculation the cat is finally out of the bag - Pauline Fowler is set to die in a house fire, but the police do not seem convinced that it was an accident.  But why has actress Wendy Richards “decided” to quit the show after an amazing 22 years?

It appears that Wendy Richards has fallen out with the shows script writers, believing that the marriage of Pauline and Joe was a big mistake and should never have happened.  Wendy seems to be taking the part of Pauline a little too serious and the script writers did not appreciate her very public out bursts. 

As Martin Fowler and Sonia Fowler are also set to leave the show, one of the longest running soap families is set to be decimated - has this been a long term plan of the script writers?

In the now obligatory snipe at the ethics of the show, Wendy Richards has attacked the script writers for deserting traditional family values and including too much sex and violence.  Pauline will be missed, but as they say in the business “The show must go on”.