Shock horror: Pauline Fowler is leaving EastEnders, the BBC’s gloom-ridden soap opera.

The character, played by Wendy Richard, has suffered a relentless succession of disasters over the years. Just a taster: her husband has an affair, suffers a nervous breakdown, is jailed and beaten up in a prison riot and dies soon after being released. Her brother dies in a car crash. Her son Mark is diagnosed as HIV positive and eventually dies. She marries a man who turns out to be a conman.

And people watch the show for fun?