{"id":536173,"date":"2025-10-29T20:47:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T20:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536173\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T20:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T20:47:13","slug":"rita-simons-healed-by-liverpool-as-she-shares-brookside-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536173\/","title":{"rendered":"Rita Simons ‘healed’ by Liverpool as she shares Brookside update"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 48-year-old actress is saying goodbye to her Hollyoaks character Marie Fielding\"RitaRita Simons attended the Hollyoaks 30th anniversary celebration at St George’s Hall(Image: Peter Byrne\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

Rita Simons said she was “healed” by Liverpool as she shared an update as her character has moved to Brookside Close. The Hollyoaks actress will miss “everyone in the village” following her iconic exit from the Channel 4 soap<\/a>. Her character Marie Fielding has had her fair share of drama over the past year.<\/a><\/p>\n

The actress, 48, who played Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders between 2007 and 2017, joined the Channel 4 soap in 2024 to play Marie Fielding, <\/a>the mother of Joel Dexter (Rory Douglas-Speed), Abe Fielding (Tyler Conti), and Arlo Fielding (Dan Hough).<\/p>\n

In Wednesday\u2019s episode, Simons\u2019s character is seen moving to Brookside, where she is welcomed by Billy Corkhill, played by John McArdle.<\/p>\n

Channel 4 soap Brookside, set in Liverpool, returned to the small screen this month for a one-off crossover with Hollyoaks, marking the show\u2019s 30th anniversary.<\/a> Hollyoaks took over as Channel 4\u2019s flagship continuing drama when the soap came to an end on November 4 2003.<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking about her exit from the show,<\/a> Simons said: \u201cI\u2019ve loved every second of playing Marie\u2026 From her questionable parenting choices to her excessive partying.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpending these last two years in Liverpool with the wonderful cast and crew of Hollyoaks has been full of love and support, but sadly it\u2019s time to move on\u2026 I will miss everyone in the village, especially my boys, Rory, Tyler and Dan.<\/p>\n

\"E4Liverpool-soap Brookside returned for a one-off crossover episode with Hollyoaks(Image: E4)<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, I want to thank (executive producer) Hannah Cheers for giving me the most iconic exit\u2026 Brookside Close better watch out. You never know in the world of soap.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Wednesday\u2019s episode, Marie is seen coming clean to her son Arlo about faking her pregnancy and lies to him about Cleo McQueen agreeing to give them her newborn baby.<\/a><\/p>\n

Diane Hutchinson is shocked to find Marie holding the newborn baby in the hospital and supports her in leaving for Brookside, where she starts her new life with Arlo.<\/a><\/p>\n

Simons\u2019 character in EastEnders, Roxy, was killed off in 2017, when she drowned alongside her sister Ronnie Mitchell, played by Samantha Womack.<\/a><\/p>\n

The actress revealed in an Instagram post in June that she would be leaving Hollyoaks to go back to London.<\/a><\/p>\n

She said: \u201cSince Marie Fielding stepped into Hollyoaks village, she\u2019s sufficiently messed up all her boys\u2019 lives, caused ALL the carnage and fallen off the wagon a few times\u2026 so her job here is done! I\u2019m going to be saying bye-bye in the autumn.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a personal note, when I first came to Liverpool I was still figuring out how find balance in my mind and body after a total hysterectomy (which was the best journey I ever went on in the end!)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis beautiful, welcoming city has healed me more than I can ever explain. I will always have such love for my second home and the wonderful people of Liverpool. But now I feel strong, I can metaphorically walk on my own again, and I need to do just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s time to thank everyone at Hollyoaks for being the best tonic I could\u2019ve asked for. But London and my true home is calling and I have to follow my heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cGone are the days of not listening to my soul. So\u2026 London\u2019s calling baby! but before she goes, Marie has a bit more carnage and a few laughs to unleash on the village\u2026so until then \u2026Thank you all for all the love and support you\u2019ve always shown me no matter what fictional town I end up in! Where to next!!? Marie ..over and out! (Not quite yet!).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 48-year-old actress is saying goodbye to her Hollyoaks character Marie FieldingRita Simons attended the Hollyoaks 30th anniversary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,93389,393,4884,1983,179,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-536173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-brookside","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-hollyoaks","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115459420710909902","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}