Stephanie Davis axed from Hollyoaks: Sinead O' Connor actress will leave soap 'immediately'

She has been a part of the Hollyoaks cast for nearly six years now but appears as if Stephanie Davis's time in Chester has come to an abrupt end due to her being "terminated" from the show.

The 22-year-old actress, who plays Sinead O'Connor, was only celebrating four months ago that, in agreement with Channel 4 bosses, she had signed another one-year deal to continue her stint on the series.

A spokesperson from the long-running soap released a statement to Digital Spy, confirming: "Stephanie Davis will no longer be filming Hollyoaks. Her contract has been terminated with immediate effect."

No further information has been released on why Davis has been suddenly axed from the show but it has been reported that she will not film any more episodes and her character will ultimately leave Hollyoaks for good.

She joined the series in 2010 as O'Connor alongside her on-screen relatives, stepmother Diane, father Rob and brother, Finn. They soon became one of the show's leading families and were the only members from it in the village for some time, until recently when producers introduced Ross Adams as Sinead's cousin, Scott Drinkwell.

O'Connor has participated in several of the programme's most dramatic storylines over the past few years, including being in a relationship with a drug dealer, getting embroiled into prostitution, a bullying plot involving fellow character Esther Bloom, and the tragic loss of her baby daughter, Katy, in a car accident.

Most recently, she has started seeing best friend Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) after the pair had a baby together, who they named Hannah, despite Hay's reluctance to become involved with her as he has regarded himself as gay for many years.

Before Hollyoaks, Davis had small roles in Holby City and Doctors but was noticed when she took part in the BBC talent competition, Over The Rainbow, which saw the network searching for a young actress to play Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of The Wizard Of Oz.

Davis has made no mention of the recent news on her social media pages and her representatives are reportedly yet to comment.

However, she did take to Instagram to post a black and white photograph of herself in the mirror, with the caption: "Momma: what you want to be when you grow up?... Me: I want to be an actress."

Given the announcement is a departure from an acting role, her post has sparked speculation as to what she meant and whether the cryptic message had anything to do with the recent events.