Wednesday’s episode of EastEnders saw viewers say goodbye to Lola Pearce as the much-loved character tragically passed away.
Lola, played by Danielle Harold, finally succumbed to her terminal brain cancer, devastating her husband Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick).
Their relationship has been popular with fans, so much so that many have hoped it has continued off-screen.
In February, the soap stars sparked romance rumours and have spoken publicly about their close bond.
MailOnline takes a look inside their real life relationship, as Lola and Jay’s story ends.
Devastating: Wednesday’s episode of EastEnders saw viewers say goodbye to Lola Pearce as the much-loved character tragically passed away
Romance? Their relationship has been popular with fans, so much so that many have hoped it has continued off-screen
First meetings
The actress and actor met on EastEnders, with Jamie being cast in 2006 and Danielle joining in 2011.
Lola was introduced as the granddaughter of Billy Mitchell and Julie Perkins and stayed on the show until 2015.
She then left the soap briefly before returning in April 2019 with her on-screen daughter Lexi Pearce, and remaining until her death.
On-screen romance
When Lola first appeared on the Square she flirts with several locals, including Jay and Fatboy.
While she gets pregnant by Ben Mitchell after a one night stand, Lola and Jay become close as she opens up about how she thinks she will be a bad mother.
Despite dating Abi Branning at the time, Jay shares a secret kiss with Lola and helps her through her labour.
They eventually begin dating and Jay bonds with Lexi, but then he decides to breaks things off.
When Jay believes he will be implicated in Lucy Beale’s murder, they reunite and plan to run away to Newcastle together.
Origins: When Lola first appeared on the Square she flirts with several locals, including Jay and Fatboy
However, Billy calls the police on Jay, and Lola decides to leave Albert Square with Lexi.
After being released from prison, Jay plans to meet up with Lola, but she breaks up with him and reveals she’s dating Dexter.
They resume their relationship once again during The Queen Vic siege and Lola falls pregnant with Jay’s baby.
Lola chooses to have an abortion, but cheats on Jay with Peter Beale, leading to their breakup again.
Sparks fly: Despite dating Abi Branning at the time, Jay shares a secret kiss with Lola and helps her through her labour
Eventually the stars align once again and Jay and Lola rekindle the romance in September 2022.
However, just one month later she begins experiencing headaches and dizziness and suffers a seizure.
She is taken to hospital where she is diagnosed with a brain tumour, which is later confirmed to be terminal.
Jay proposes to her at Christmas and Lola accepts, with them finally tying the knot in January 2023.
Romance rumours
Danielle fueled romance rumours with her co-star earlier this year as she shared an Instagram snap of the pair.
The soap stars looked loved-up as they enjoyed a night out at the Broadcast Awards in February.
Danielle took to her social media to upload a number of videos of the pair looking closer than ever at the star-studded event.
In one snap, the actress cosied up to her co-star for a mirror selfie which sparked speculation of an off-screen romance.
She penned: ‘My love,’ followed by a heart emoji.
Danielle also shared a video of the pair in a taxi singing as she wrote: ‘Always be our song. I love you @jamie_b10’.
Close bond
Jamie has spoken about his close relationship with Danielle in the past, but insisted that they were just friends.
He told Digital Spy: ‘We’re like brother and sister, and I’m with her every step of the way.’
Jamie added to The Sun: ‘We have a laugh on set, we know each other inside out, and we know what makes each other laugh.
‘I’ve got Danielle’s back, and she’s got my back; we’re extremely close. We know when it’s time to be serious, we know when it’s time to be silly.’
Just friends: Jamie has spoken about his close relationship with Danielle in the past, but insisted that they were just friend
He also explained that they also have a ‘great bond’ and grew closer filming scenes in Margate together.
Speaking to the Daily Star, he said: ‘Thankfully we’ve always had a great bond. When you go through something like this with somebody, you can’t help but get closer to them.”
Jamie added: ‘Obviously, we went away to Margate for a week which was a great week. And it’s that we’re in it together kind of thing and we were all in it together.
‘It was another great load of memories which was nice.’
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