EastEnders star Laura Doddington has marked her one-year anniversary on the BBC soap. Taking to Instagram on Tuesday (11 November), the actor shared clips from her time on the series. “I still cannot believe my absolute luck that I get to play Nicola Mitchell,” she penned in the caption.

“A year on screen today! Can’t imagine my life without this amazing character and the absolutely awesome team at Eastenders! What a lucky woman I am.”

Taking to the comments, friends and fans rallied around Doddington to celebrate the milestone. “And what a year!” replied fellow EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal. “Queen Dodders x Happy Walford Birthday friend!” wrote Alice Haig – aka Vicki Fowler.

Doddington, who joined EastEnders in November 2024, is in the throes of two major storylines right now. During Thursday’s (6 November) episode, Nicola’s big secret was revealed, after the character was seen pulling a pregnancy test from her bag.

Nicola has also been involved in the ongoing drugs gang storyline, after recent episodes saw her son, Harry Mitchell, and his friend, Kojo Asare, escape from Okie, while Ravi Gulati was arrested.

This week, when George Knight, who had been enjoying a fling with Nicola, realises that she had known of Harry and Kojo’s involvement with the gang and kept it from him, he breaks things off with her in Thursday’s (13 November) instalment.

There’s no doubt about it, Nicola has a tough time ahead, and in next week’s episodes, she’ll find herself in an even worse position after discovering that Harry has accidentally stabbed Okie in a scuffle while protecting his friend, Kojo. After learning what happened, Nicola vows to fix things for her son and even offers to help cover it up, but when Harry asks his mum to call the police, determined to hand himself in, his father, Teddy, steps in.

When Harry leaves the room, Teddy tells his ex-wife that he’s prepared to take the fall, and after placing his fingerprints on the murder weapon, calls the police to confess. As Nicola sits down with Harry to explain his dad’s decision, Teddy is seen being arrested by the police. Whether or not he’ll be charged remains to be seen…