Hollyoaks star Gemma Merna has spoken out about her upcoming departure from the popular soap. The actress, who has played Carmel McQueen for over eight years, will be leaving in the autumn but she insists there is still a lot more to come for her character. She told Digital Spy: “Obviously it was difficult choice to make because I’ve been there for so long, but what I felt was that I’d explored everything possible storyline-wise with Carmel over my eight years of being there. “I felt that it was time to put the character to bed and move onto a brand new start for myself. I’d like to get my teeth into more characters and create something that’s different from Carmel.” Gemma Merna has been on the soap for eight years. As for her exit storyline, fans are in store for something special: “The exit is going to be absolutely amazing. I can’t say any more but I’m very, very pleased and it’s going to be unreal. Everybody just needs to keep watching!” Gemma also spoke about her plans for the future. She said: “It just depends, really. I’d like to focus a bit of time on my business venture and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to move on from Hollyoaks, as well as wanting to focus a little bit of time on myself. “Then hopefully next year I’ll get back into acting and if the right role came up, I’d like to tackle it and create something half as good as Carmel!”