Sophie Porley has quit 'Hollyoaks'.
Sophie Porley
The 25-year-old actress - who plays Ellie Nightingale in the Channel 4 soap - is set to depart the famous village to pursue other roles after taking a "small break".
An insider told The Sun Online: "Sophie is ready to move on to pastures new. She's moving back down South and is going to take a small break before heading to auditions."
Sophie has portrayed Ellie since October 2015, and while she is said to have enjoyed playing the character, she is "ready" to try her hand at new roles.
The insider added: "She's loved her time on the show but now she's ready to move on."
Earlier this year, Sophie admitted she felt "a little bit scared" by a Twitter troll who was pretending to be her character's evil father Mac Nightingale (David Easter).
She said: "Someone has actually created a Twitter account for Mac Nightingale, and they keep tweeting me saying, 'I'm coming to get you' - it's a little bit scary."
Calculated Mac got his comeuppance after a reign of terror when Ellie pushed him out of the window of the Dog after discovering him beating her brother James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan).
He developed locked-in syndrome following the fall and fortunately for Ellie was shipped off to a care home away from Chester, but Sophie was surprised that some fans sympathised with him.
Sophie explained: "The audience response was overwhelmingly positive, but I did get a few people saying that Ellie should be punished for what she did to 'poor' Mac - I don't think they quite understood the storyline."
One of Sophie's other major 'Hollyoaks' storylines was a sexual consent plot, which began in September 2016 and coincided with university Freshers' Weeks up and down the country.
Ellie went home with village newcomer Nick Savage (Ben-Ryan Davies) only for her to wake up and not remember having sex with him.
Tagged in David Easter