New EastEnders bombshell as ex-star Michelle Ryan returns as Zoe Slater – and she's back FOR GOOD after 20 years
As gorgeous Zoe Slater, the actress is best known for her explosive 'You ain't my mother!' showdown with Kat Slater, now Moon.
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She's now back on Albert Square as Kat marries Alfie for the third time and prepares to take over the Queen Victoria pub.
Viewers will see Zoe in two further episodes this week but she will be on board full-time this summer.
Speaking on her return to the BBC soap, Michelle said: 'It feels like coming home.
'After doing my first few scenes, it was like I'd never been away.
'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 I was pitched the storylines, and when I read the scripts, I knew it was the right decision.'
EastEnders new boss, Executive Producer Ben Wadey added: 'Before I even stepped into the role, Zoe Slater was on my wish-list of returnees as, although we haven't seen her on screen for twenty years, her character has transcended time due to her popular storylines.'
The mother-daughter spectacle with Kat in 2001 cemented Zoe as one of the BBC soap's most iconic characters.
EastEnders' Kat Slater calls her estranged daughter Zoe Slater who left 13 years ago
The scene revealed that Zoe, the youngest of the all-female Slater clan, was in fact Kat's daughter but had been brought up by Charlie and Viv Slater as her own.
In the storyline, Zoe is fed up of being bossed around by Kat and yells: 'You can't tell me what to do - you ain't my mother,' to which Kat explodes: 'Yes I am!'
Zoe also had a string of countless failed love interests, including a disastrous relationship with Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman).
The doomed affair - which resulted in a pregnancy - saw Zoe embroiled in the murder of Den Watts with accomplices Chrissie Watts and Sam Mitchell.
Zoe left Albert Square in 2005 but during her time away, Zoe and Kat's relationship was said to have broken down once again and the pair have been estranged ever since.
Michelle added: '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.'
Michelle made her debut in 2000 alongside Jessie Wallace as Kat, Kasey Ainsworth as Little Mo and Elaine Lordan as Lynne.
She quit the show in 2005 in a bid to crack Hollywood and landed the lead role in a big-budget remake of The Bionic Woman - but it failed to impress and was axed after just one season.
In 2008 she ruled out a return to the soap.
She said: 'I just got quite bored in the end, to be honest.
'Doing the same thing day in, day out.
'It's just so boring.
'I like to jump from different things.'
She added: 'Money doesn't drive me.
'You couldn't get me back.'
However last year she said 'never say never' when asked about a potential return.
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