Pam St Clement has admitted that she felt let down by EastEnders after she was told her character Pat Evans would not be killed off.
The actress - who departed the soap three years ago after Pat died of cancer - revealed her shock at discovering that the producers had a change of heart.
"It was very, very difficult. I was saying goodbye to a character I'd inhabited for almost 26 years and, while I had chosen to leave EastEnders, I didn't want Pat to die," St Clement told The Mirror.
"I was adamant there should be a chance for her to return and had been assured by the executive producer she wouldn't be axed.
"When I felt the time had come to hang up the earrings I took Bryan Kirkwood, the then executive producer, out for dinner and broached the subject of leaving.
"One crucial thing I asked for was that Pat shouldn't be killed off. Bryan's response was unequivocal. He assured me that Pat wouldn't be axed."
St Clement added that John Yorke, then the BBC's head of series, also promised her they would "never kill off Pat". But just a few months later, Pat was on the way to TV Heaven.
"I was so shocked. Someone changed the goalposts. For the sake of a hard-hitting exit Pat would be 'brown bread'," she said.
"I truly don't know if I could have flatly refused to die - indeed, if I could have made any difference. I went away feeling empty and let down."
St Clement recently joined EastEnders' Gogglebox-style series Back to Ours, where she will watch some of Pat's memorable scenes on the sofa next to Barbara Windsor.
