I have been reading about this in Wikipedia. It happens when a character unexpectedly disapears with no mention of what has happened to them ever again.
Sometimes it is because the actor has died or was fired but sometimes it seems to be poor continutiy.

Have a look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Cunningham_syndrome

Chuck Cunningham was a member of the family in Happy Days but went missing after the first season never to be mentioned again.

It happened a lot in Crossroads but it has happened in other soaps.

Think Sasha in Eastenders and Kim Mc Farlane. Also Ida Clough disapeared twice from Coronation Street.

Any other examples?

Candy and Paula from Hollyoaks.

-Brodie

That bloke from Hollyoaks who used to be friends with Joe, they were arguing about sharing a room when they first arrived

Well, not technically a soap but in Ally McBeal.. Renee and Marc are both central characters towards the end of series 4 but don't show up in series 5 (except Renee who shows up in the last ever episode) with no explanation of where they go!

And there is also Chuck Cunningham in reverse when a character who had never been mentioned before but who would have been of significance shows up out of the blue and it is as if they have been there all the time. Think Danny Baldwin and his family.

Pat and her new family which are being introduced is another classic example of reverse syndrome.

I relation to characters randomly disappearing - the one I remember is Dot's friend Lilly in EE. One day she was there - the next, gone.

Steven Beale - He is gone & forgotten!! Ian doesn't seem to bother with him now that he has 'bobby & the twins' rather than 'steven & the twins'

Hmm Mad Maya from Corrie.
Was that ever resolved?

-Brodie

Corrie havent even said if she is dead or not - Surley Sunita and Dev would of liked to known.

as far as i know the actor left because he got skin cancer which could be why the character just dissappeared without trace

Ah that's not good, but at least that resolved where he disappered to!

Steven's almost certain to join his granny and long-lost Wicks cousins on the square at some point in the near future. Given the age of the character, I'd say it's very likely that he'll reappear as a young heartthrob soon.

You refer to Robbie, mmmmmm, anyway, they did actually mention him leaving, tho it happened as a 'by the way'. Think also of Norman, IIRC he left with no real mention of it!

Joe Scully in Neighbours, actor was fired which left a whole in the plot. He went off to Bendigo (or some other weirdo Aussie name) and never came back. Lynn Scully decided she wanted to be seperated and the rest is history.

JC