EastEnders star Jessie Wallace did not want Zoe Slater recast
Jessie Wallace has insisted she did not want Michelle Ryan's character Zoe Slater to be recast.
Jessie Wallace rejected the idea of Zoe Slater being recast because she felt EastEnders fans would be "completely conned".
The 53-year-old actress declared she "wouldn't be able to give my best performance" as Zoe's mum Kat Moon if Michelle Ryan's alter ego had been replaced by another performer in the hit BBC One soap.
However, EastEnders' Executive Producer Ben Wadey, 31, managed to convince Michelle, 41, to reprise her character, and she made a Walford comeback in an episode aired on June 16 - her first since June 2005.
Jessie told the new issue of Radio Times magazine: "I said to Ben: 'It has to be Michelle. It won't feel right if Zoe is recast.'
"I wouldn't be able to give my best performance. The audience would feel completely conned."
Michelle - whose character left Walford for Ibiza, Spain, in 2005 to distance herself from the murder of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), which was committed by Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman) - had been asked to return to EastEnders in the past, but the timing was not right until now.
She explained: "In the past, the timing just wasn't right. I didn't feel a need to do it and, for me, there always has to be a need.
"This time, I surprised myself with how open I was to it."
Michelle - who joined the soap in 2000 - left EastEnders in 2005, aged 21, because she felt "done at five years", and Michelle decided to "jump" onto other projects instead of "doing the same sorts of storylines".
Zoe returned to screens in June, but it was short-lived because she fled to Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, as she admitted to being in trouble to Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) and Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner).
Kat does not know her husband Alfie travelled to Spain to try and bring her daughter Zoe home to Albert Square, lying to Kat about travelling to Australia due to his returning cancer in the process.
On Alfie's return to Walford, he told Stacey that Zoe remained missing, whilst Kat called her spouse the "biggest liar in Walford".
However, Zoe is returning to Albert Square in the summer, where she will be reunited with her mum, Kat.
Speaking about working with Jessie again after 20 years, Michelle said: "Jessie is one of the best actresses I've ever worked with.
"The rapport we have and our friendship off screen as well, it all just feeds into that mother-daughter bond.
"On set, it's like having someone in your corner all the time and always knowing that I'll be fine.
"I can just talk to Jessie. We have a shorthand, and we have a similar kind of view on the characters and their journey."
