text: It shouldn't just be a distraction from your own life, it should be an exploration of the life shared by the audience and the characters."O'Connor planned to stay with EastEnders until the end of 2017, but announced his departure on 23 June 2017 with immediate effect, saying he wanted to concentrate on a career in film. John Yorke returned as a temporary executive consultant. Kent said, "John Yorke is a Walford legend and I am thrilled that he will be joining us for a short period to oversee the show and to help us build on Sean's legacy while we recruit a long-term successor." Yorke initially returned for three months but his contract was later extended. In July 2018, a special episode was aired as part of a knife crime storyline. This episode, which showed the funeral of Shakil Kazemi (Shaheen Jafargholi) interspersed with real people talking about their true-life experiences of knife crime. On 8 August 2018, it was announced that Kate Oates, who has previously been a producer on the ITV soap operas Emmerdale and Coronation Street, would become Senior Executive Producer of EastEnders, as well of Holby City and Casualty. 