![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/jon-lee-says-it-was-surreal-to-return-to-eastenders-after-almost-30-years.jpg\")
Jon Lee will reprise his role as Josh Saunders in the soap (Ian West\/PA)<\/p>\nS Club star Jon Lee has said it was \u201csurreal\u201d to step back onto Albert Square and reunite with his \u201conscreen family\u201d, as he returns to EastEnders after almost 30 years.<\/p>\n
The singer and actor, 44, will be joined by actress Gemma Bissix as the two reunite for a short stint on the soap for the funeral of Nigel Bates, as the soap concludes its long-running dementia storyline.<\/p>\n
Lee will reprise his role as Julie Bates\u2019 son Josh Saunders when he returns to Walford for the funeral of his stepfather Nigel, who died in Wednesday\u2019s episode after a battle with young onset dementia.<\/p>\n
Jon Lee will reprise his role as Josh Saunders in the soap (Ian West\/PA)<\/p>\n
On his return, Lee said: \u201cIt was quite surreal stepping back on to Albert Square after so many years as it\u2019s so familiar to so many of us. It was lovely to see my onscreen family again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee, who last appeared in the soap in 1998, is best known as part of chart-topping group S Club \u2013 formerly known as S Club 7 \u2013 who are famed for hits such as Don\u2019t Stop Movin\u2019, Reach and Bring It All Back.<\/p>\n
He will be joined in Albert Square by Bissix, who recently returned to the soap after almost two decades away to reprise her role as Nigel\u2019s estranged stepdaughter, Clare.<\/p>\n
The 42-year-old actress said: \u201cWhen I returned earlier this year, we always knew Clare had to come back for Nigel\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe meant so much to her, and it felt right to be there for the conclusion of his story, as everyone came together to say their final goodbyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bissix briefly made her return to the soap this spring after her character discovered that her stepfather, played by Paul Bradley, was experiencing worsening dementia symptoms.<\/p>\n
![\"Gemma](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1777629265_681_jon-lee-says-it-was-surreal-to-return-to-eastenders-after-almost-30-years.jpg\")
Gemma Bissix will return to Walford for the funeral of Nigel Bates (Peter Byrne\/PA)<\/p>\n
In recent episodes, viewers have seen Nigel also suffering with pneumonia as part of a complication of his deteriorating health and, after stopping his end-of-life care, the character died during an emotional episode on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Bradley\u2019s character returned to the long-running soap after 26 years on December 24th, 2024, and EastEnders has worked closely with Dementia UK for the ongoing storyline.<\/p>\n
Bissix made her first appearance in Albert Square in 1993, as the daughter of Nigel\u2019s first wife, Debbie Bates (Nicola Duffett), who was later killed off in a hit-and-run giving Nigel full custody of Clare.<\/p>\n
In 1997, Karen Henthorn\u2019s character Julie and her son Josh Saunders (Lee) made their first appearance in Walford.<\/p>\n
The following year, Nigel and Julie started their romantic relationship and later left Walford with Josh and Clare, relocating to Scotland together.<\/p>\n
EastEnders is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S Club star Jon Lee has said it was \u201csurreal\u201d to step back onto Albert Square and reunite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-426739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}