Rose Ayling-Ellis to present new documentary on deaf community

Actress and campaigner Rose Ayling-Ellis recently announced she would be leaving EastEnders, but she's got another role lined up.

Some people thought it would be as the new Doctor Who companion, but she has said that's just a rumour!

Instead she'll be presenting a BBC documentary focusing on the deaf community.

She said the programme would be "real, emotional and hard-hitting", with the one-hour episode following the stories of people with hearing loss and the challenges they face.

Rose, who has been deaf since birth, has often spoken of the difficulties she has faced, and hopes the programme will help people to be more aware.

She said: "My hope is to encourage people to look at our attitude as a society and to reflect on how we can improve the lives of deaf people."

The documentary is called Signs for Change, but a release date has not been announced yet.

How has Rose highlighted difficulties deaf people can experience?

As Frankie on the BBC One drama EastEnders, she made history as the first deaf actor to play a regular character on the show.

Earlier this month she announced she was leaving the show, but was "grateful" for the role which has given her "lots of opportunities".

Speaking at the Edinburgh International TV festival Rose said that "being the first deaf person to play a regular character is a huge privilege and was long overdue".

Rose joined the soap in 2020 playing Frankie Lewis

But she has also spoken of her frustration at how scripts and scenes for her character have been written, which resulted in her "playing a hearing person's perception of what a deaf person is like".

She said Frankie was either written "as a hearing person or as a deaf stereotype", and although she often tried her best to help fix the problem on set, it took a long time for any of the changes she suggested to be added to the script.

One example she gave was that her character was often seen being able to follow everything being said even "amongst a big group of people arguing with each other" or "lipreading someone from impossibly far away".

Rose became even more well known after winning the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing with professional dance partner Giovanni Pierce.

During her stint on Strictly, Rose often spoke about her experiences as a deaf person learning to dance without being able to hear music.

She has also been open about the challenges of living with hearing loss and encouraged conversation about the issues that the deaf community face including children.

Recently she also teamed up with toymaker Mattel to make a Barbie doll with hearing aids, saying: "It's so important for children to be able to see themselves represented in the toys they play with."

She has also campaigned for British Sign Language to be a legally protected as a language in the UK.

This finally happened in May earlier this year with The British Sign Language Act 2022 recognising BSL as an official language of England, Scotland and Wales - the same status afforded to Welsh and Scots Gaelic.

Under the new law, the government must promote BSL and make it easier for people to use it in their dealings with government agencies.

Figures from the British Deaf Association suggest 151,000 people use BSL in the UK, 87,000 of whom are deaf.