IT’s the end of an era in EastEnders next week when Carmel Kazemi prepares to leave Walford – and all its problems – behind her for good.

As the grieving mother gets ready to go she hands out sentimental items of her dead son Shakil to various residents.

Then she says an emotional goodbye to her son Kush – Davood Ghadami – and goes to leave before taking a final look of the poster of Shakil.

Carmel does one final good deed as Hayley Slater arrives on the Square with her baby but is unable to pay her cab fare.

Carmel steps in and pays Hayley’s fare before she leaves Walford for good.

Actress Bonnie Langford revealed she was leaving EastEnders earlier this year blaming the hit soap’s gruelling filming schedule.

In an interview with The Stage Bonnie revealed: “In EastEnders, you don’t know when you are going to be needed, you are on call all the time and don’t know your availability until the Friday before.

“Silly things, like booking a dentist appointment, become impossible.

“That sounds like a stupid thing to have as an issue but after a while you don’t know where you are.

“I started to think I needed to come up for air a little bit.”

“I needed to do other stuff, to get out there and feed that other part of my soul.

“You have to nurture the whole lot, otherwise you can’t do your job properly.”

Bonnie also claimed she didn’t receive “support” from EastEnders team while playing out the recent hard-hitting knife crime storyline which saw Carmel’s son Shakil tragically stabbed to death by a gang.

When asked if she was supported she replied: “No, but I had support at home.”

Bonnie announced in July that she was leaving the soap after a three-and-a-half year stint.

She said at the time: “I’ve had a wonderful three-and-a-half years at EastEnders and it’s been a privilege to be part of such an iconic show.

“My storyline has been such an incredible experience and I’m honoured to be part of something so powerful and poignant.

“However, I’ve known since the beginning of this storyline it would always lead to Carmel having to take a break from Walford.”