just loads of avenues that they could take it down". Diane's second round of IVF fails and she breaks down. Sinead comforts Diane, but Finn is glad as he "feels if Diane wants a baby it means she doesn't want him". Diane is "desperate" for a baby, and steals a baby boy from the hospital. She goes to the hospital to see a nurse and when she gets there, she finds the baby. Fletcher explained the situation to a reporter from What's on TV, saying "The baby has been abandoned outside the hospital. Diane thinks it's an animal at first when she hears something crying - and when she looks it's a baby boy." There is not a note left with the baby, so Diane reasons that his mother does not deserve to have him back and takes him home. Fletcher explained why Diane did not take the baby into the hospital: "She believes that, in taking him home, she's doing the right thing and that she'll get in touch with social services." But, Diane "goes past the point of no return" and feels a bond with the baby and falls in love with him. Fletcher defended Diane, saying "She's not a nut job. She's pumped full of hormones and the IVF hasn't worked. She's having a breakdown and she isn't thinking properly." Temporary departure In March 2016, Fletcher announced that she was pregnant and would be taking maternity leave from the show. This meant that the character had to be written out temporarily and she filmed the exit in May 2016. Diane's exit storyline saw herself and Tony forced to sell their restaurant to Marnie Nightingale (Lysette Anthony) following months of her scheming to ruin the business. Diane and Tony return to working there but are treated unfairly by Marnie. Diane discovers that Marnie is having an affair with her daughter's boyfriend, Freddie Roscoe (Charlie Clapham) and blackmails her. Marnie decides she needs to get rid of Diane and calls an old friend who offers her a job in France, which Diane accepts. "Who Shot Mercedes?" Hollyoaks announced that Diane would be a suspect for an upcoming whodunit storyline, which sees Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe) being shot and left for dead by a mystery assailant. Diane is motivated after, in May 2019, Mercedes frames her stepson, Harry Thompson (Parry Glasspool), for a hit and run which left Grace Black