The latest instalment of the ITV1 soap saw Ella flip on nurse Wendy during a vulnerable moment by physically attacking her. Ella had previously been confronted by the brother of the young girl she’d killed decades earlier.

“Ella attacked Wendy because she felt there was no way out,” Paula Lane said of these harrowing scenes. “Wendy’s kind words about people caring for her struck Ella hard. She finds it difficult to believe that could ever be the case.

“She’s frustrated that this new place she now calls home will always know her real identity. There is no hiding, only in prison, that bizarrely is her safe place and she knows exactly what to do to get back there.

Susan Cookson addressed Wendy’s reaction to the unprovoked attack: “She was completely shocked, as she was genuinely trying to help her, after seeing and hearing what she had just gone through. Wendy has tried to take Ella’s side, knowing how difficult her life must have been since getting out of the young offenders unit/prison.”

She went on: “Wendy was not in any way prepared for what was about to happen, probably thinking quite the opposite and would have been believing she was calming Ella down and supporting her!”

Paula suggested that the root of the attack comes from Ella’s reluctance to accept that she cannot change her troubled past.

“She’s had a lot of rehabilitation in prison with trained professionals helping her but when she gets into the outside world, all that is constantly put to the test especially when the focus is put on her like her birthday. She can find situations daunting and overbearing.”

The actor added: “I hope for her she can move on but the trauma she has experienced will forever be a lasting scar. It will take the right people around her to help support her to enable her to have a happy future.”

Tonight’s episode was a traumatic one for Ella on what was supposed to be a happy occasion to celebrate her birthday.

Paula suggested that the root of the attack comes from Ella’s reluctance to accept that she cannot change her troubled past.

“She’s had a lot of rehabilitation in prison with trained professionals helping her but when she gets into the outside world, all that is constantly put to the test especially when the focus is put on her like her birthday. She can find situations daunting and overbearing.”

The actor added: “I hope for her she can move on but the trauma she has experienced will forever be a lasting scar. It will take the right people around her to help support her to enable her to have a happy future.”

Tonight’s episode was a traumatic one for Ella on what was supposed to be a happy occasion to celebrate her birthday.

Manpreet tried to convince Ella they could “work through” her issues, even offering to tell the police the situation with Wendy was a misunderstanding.

PC Swirling soon arrived to take Ella into custody, with Manpreet and Liam solemnly watching as she was led towards their police car. Liam and Manpreet promised they’d get Ella a solicitor.

“Thank you for everything, but this is for the best,” Ella told them.

After sharing one last kiss, Ella encouraged Liam to “be happy”. The episode concluded with Ella near tears in the back of a police car.

Following these scenes, Susan Cookson suggested that Wendy will likely give Ella “a wide berth” after seeing what she is “potentially capable of”.

“Maybe as time passes, and providing Ella gets help with her anxiety, I am sure Wendy would want to help her move forward with her life,” she clarified.

Susan suggested that Wendy could ultimately become someone Ella could lean on since her family has a dark past in the village too.

“Ella’s past is a difficult one for Wendy and others in the village, but I think Wendy really does want to try and give Ella another chance, and to try and get to know the woman she is now having paid her debt to society, but maybe in light of what Ella has done to Wendy, it might not be plain sailing for the two of them,” she said.

Paula Lane remains hopeful that Ella will eventually be able to move beyond the trauma of her childhood crime.

“I hope for her she can move on but the trauma she has experienced will forever be a lasting scar,” she said. “It will take the right people around her to help support her to enable her to have a happy future.”