EastEnders' Rita Simons and Samantha Womack reunite - sparking calls for shock soap return
EastEnders icons Rita Simons and Samantha Womack have reunited - nine years after their alter egos were killed off in the BBC soap.
EastEnders' Rita Simons and Samantha Womack have reunited - sparking fresh fan hopes for a return from the dead soap comeback.
The actress' played beloved sisters Roxy and Ronnie Mitchell, respectively, on the BBC soap from July 2007 until New Year's Day 2017, when their alter egos died on Ronnie's wedding day to Jack Branning (Scott Maslen).
But nine years later, Samantha, 53, and Rita, 49, have got back together, and they posed for a sweet photo.
Rita shared the shot on Instagram on Sunday (08.03.26) with the caption: "Look who I found! #r r in liverpool @samzjanus was absolutely incredible in @dearenglandplay. (sic)"
And it sent her followers into a frenzy.
One fan penned: "Look, we’re all prepared to just forget the whole drowning thing ever happened and move on. Bring them back."
A second person agreed: "Just come back to EE. No one would care they both died. They can get round that (sic)."
And a third user typed: "Bring back the Mitchell sisters … no one stays ‘gone’ in soap land!! (sic)"
In April 2023, Rita made a shock return to EastEnders, playing Roxy as a "figment of her daughter Amy's imagination" in an emotional scene where Amy (Ellie Dadd) imagined she was sat with her mum during a family therapy session.
Since Ronnie and Roxy's funerals aired, EastEnders fans have pleaded with the soap's bosses for the sisters to return from the dead.
And this includes Rita's uncle, The Apprentice boss Lord Alan Sugar, who suggested that she could return to Walford as the "cousin" of Roxy Mitchell, whom he jokingly named "Poxy Mitchell".
In a TikTok video, posted in July 2025, the 78-year-old business magnate told his niece: "Now look, Rita. There is no way you're ever going to convince the BBC to bring you back into EastEnders."
Rita asked: "Do you think I should be back at EastEnders?"
Lord Sugar replied: "Oh, definitely. But, you're dead. I mean, as far as the story is, you're dead.
"So you've got to come back as a cousin of who you were. So, I don't know who you were."
Rita queried: "What would my name be?"
Lord Sugar responded: "I don't know your b***** name."
Rita then asked: "What was my name in the show?"
An unsure Lord Sugar said: "Roxy?"
Rita then added: "So the cousin would be..."
Lord Sugar chimed in: "Poxy. You know, whatever. I don't care what you come back as. But the point is, is that, you've got to come back as a relative, right?
"That's it, definitely."
Rita asked her uncle: "And you think they'll buy it?"
Lord Sugar replied: "They should do."
In September 2025, Samantha said she is open to exploring how Ronnie could return to EastEnders from the dead - just like how Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) returned to Walford in 2015 after she faked her death as part of an insurance scam.
During an appearance on the Mum's Club podcast at the time, its host, EastEnders fan and Love Island star Amy Hart, 33, asked Samantha: "Is it flattering that everyone is willing to let the plot go to the side? We've seen Ronnie in her coffin, but they're willing to let that go?"
Samantha responded: "I am."
