Michelle Ryan makes EastEnders return
Michelle Ryan has returned to EastEnders as Zoe Slater after 20 years away.
Michelle Ryan has returned to EastEnders.
The 41-year-old actress had been rumoured to be reprising her role as Zoe Slater and on Monday's (16.06.25) episode of the show - the first under new executive producer Ben Wadey - she returned to Walford for the first time in two decades.
The decision had been made not to release the episode early on BBC iPlayer to retain the surprise for terrestrial TV viewers, and Michelle - who originally played Zoe from 2000 to 2005 - will appear in Tuesday (17.06.25) and Wednesday's (18.06.25) episodes before a big return later in the summer.
Michelle admitted returning to EastEnders feels like "coming home".
She told the BBC: "It all happened at the right time. I’d already been thinking about a return because I’d met up with Kacey Ainsworth (Little Mo) and Kim Medcalf (Sam Mitchell) and we were reminiscing our fond memories of the show, and I’d also joined social media and saw that there was still a lot of love for the character.
"It just so happened that at the same time, EastEnders had announced a new Exec who was keen to explore the potential of a return as he was such a massive fan of Zoe and the Slaters, so both of our worlds aligned at the right time, and I’m so excited to be back. When Ben pitched me the storylines, and when I read the scripts, I knew it was the right decision.
"It feels like coming home. After doing my first few scenes, it was like I’d never been away."
Monday's episode saw Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) in an unfamiliar flat, arguing on the phone to her bank to get purchases cancelled because they had been stolen, while a mystery woman was seen sleeping under blankets on the sofa, with alcohol rolling off as she stirred.
Stacey yelled for her to wake up and called the woman a thief.
She later tidied up and said: "I’ve not left my kids with Lynne [Slater, cousin] so I can sit here and pick up your pants, if you can even call them that!"
Stacey then tried to call Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) but he didn't answer, and told the woman she would get him involved in the hope she would speak to him.
The woman later left before Alfie arrived and said they needed to find the mystery person, but Stacey said she was "unhinged" and it may have been for the best that she had gone.
But the woman then returned and she was revealed to be a dishevelled and unhappy Zoe.
Michelle teased: "I can’t say too much as there is a lot of drama to come, but Zoe is a mess. She’s not the girl that left Walford twenty years ago, and she’s been really struggling on her own. She has her defences up, but this week you will see that she needs help, but whether she is willing to accept it is another story."
Zoe was last seen in 2005 when she left Walford for Ibiza to distance herself from the murder of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), which was ultimately down to Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman).
