EastEnders star Michelle Ryan enjoyed getting soaked whilst filming Zoe Slater and Kat Moon's dramatic reunion scene
EastEnders star Michelle Ryan said she was up for getting drenched whilst filming Zoe Slater and Kat Moon's dramatic reunion scene.
EastEnders legend Michelle Ryan loved getting drenched whilst shooting Zoe Slater and Kat Moon's dramatic reunion scene.
The September 1 episode of the hit BBC soap saw Kat (Jessie Wallace) and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) frantic with worry as their eldest son Tommy (Sonny Kendall) went missing, and had actually made contact with Kat's daughter Zoe (Michelle) and spent the night with her in a flat.
After Tommy told a skint Zoe that he could get her some cash, and texted Kat - who was overjoyed to hear from her son - to meet him outside her Queen Victoria pub, Tommy and Zoe arrived in a stormy and showery Albert Square in a black cab.
Spotting Tommy getting out of the vehicle, Kat tearfully ran down Bridge Street to greet him, before he announced to his mum that he brought her a present - and out stepped Zoe.
And Michelle said filming Zoe and Kat's first face-to-face reunion in 20 years - in almost the exact spot where Kat revealed to Zoe that she is her mum in 2001 - took multiple takes, and she did not mind looking like a drowned rat because Michelle likes rain.
Michelle exclusively told BANG Showbiz at the National Television Awards at The O2 arena, London, on Wednesday (10.09.25): "It took a few takes, but I don't mind the rain, I kinda like it.
"So, for me, when they said to me, 'You're going to be rained on,' I was like, 'That's fine, that works for me!'"
The actress made her EastEnders comeback after 20 years in an episode aired on June 16, when it was revealed that Zoe, who previously lived in Ibiza, Spain, to distance herself from the murder of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), which was committed by Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), stayed in a flat with her estranged cousin Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), and it emerged that Zoe had been stealing Stacey's credit card.
Zoe claimed to Stacey that Spanish loan sharks were trying to track her down.
She kept up the claim when her stepdad, Alfie, arrived at the flat just before Zoe came home after Stacey called him to talk to her.
Michelle made a return on a permanent basis on September 1, and episodes since have seen Zoe get shot, and reveal that she had two twins - a daughter who died and a son she put up for adoption - and that she enjoyed a brief relationship with Max Branning (Jake Wood).
The actress previously said that her return to EastEnders - which bagged the Serial Drama gong, and Steve McFadden, 66, winning the Serial Drama Performance accolade for his role as Phil Mitchell - feels like "coming home".
Michelle told the BBC in June: "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 [Executive Producer, Ben Wadey] 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."
