EASTENDERS actress Natalie Cassidy has been forced to miss filming after being struck down with illness.
The soap star, 40, has had to call in sick to the BBC One soap after falling "very poorly".
Natalie, who stars as Sonia Fowler, has not revealed exactly what sickness she has, but she has confirmed she will not be at work for several days.
As a result, the filming schedules have had to change.
Taking to Instagram, Natalie shared a picture from her 'sick bed' sofa.
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The mum-of-two revealed she was watching an episode of the arts documentary The South Bank Show while she recuperates.
Natalie wrote: "Poorly. The only time I will ever get to watch the South Bank Show Originals. Beryl Cook. Bliss.
"But I hate being unwell and mucking up people's schedules!
"Everyone works so hard and I really have to be very poorly to not go to work.
"Couple of days rest and I'll be back at it!"
In a second Stories post, she added: "Whilst I am resting and getting better I'm beginning to think about my new home studio and what I'd like in it.
"Can anyone recommend a company that makes neon wall signs?"
Natalie has played the character of Sonia in EastEnders since 1993.
She is believed to be paid an annual salary of £150,000 for her role.
In November, Natalie appeared on an episode of ITV1's Loose Women and spoke about her 30-year anniversary on the show.
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Recalling when she first started in EastEnders, Natalie said: "I was 10. I was 40 this year and was 10."
As a child, Sonia was known for playing the trumpet - an instrument her character has taken up again recently.
But Natalie admitted she was told to deliberately play it badly in the soap.
"I started playing it and actually I wasn't bad," she said. "They said, 'Oh no. No more lessons for you. We want Sonia to be really bad at it'.
"I could have been great, couldn't I? I could've been the next Miles Davis. But it never happened."
Natalie told the Loose Women panel that one of her favourite storylines during her career was Sonia's teen pregnancy.
She said: "It was amazing to do. I was only 15 at the time and I won awards for it. I'm very proud of that one.
"But do you know what I love the most? It's not the great big ones.
"It's the times when you're sat in the Vic with all the women or it's a Hen Do and you're chatting and gossiping about stuff.
"I walk into the pub and still go, 'I can't believe I'm here'. It's so iconic."
