{"id":418933,"date":"2026-04-30T20:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/418933\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T20:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:14:09","slug":"eastenders-confirms-two-major-returns-ahead-of-nigel-bates-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/418933\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders confirms two major returns ahead of Nigel Bates’ funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"

EastEnders<\/a> is preparing for an emotional goodbye following Nigel Bates’s devastating death<\/a>, with the BBC soap confirming the return of two familiar faces for the beloved character’s final farewell. <\/p>\n

After Wednesday’s (29 April) heartbreaking episode<\/a> saw Nigel lose his battle with dementia, Walford will come together to honour one of its most loved residents – and that includes the returns of Jon Lee and Gemma Bissix as Josh Saunders and Clare Bates respectively.<\/p>\n

Lee, widely recognised for his music career with S Club before moving into acting, originally appeared in the soap in 1997, before departing a year later. Josh, Julie’s son, featured in 20 episodes during Nigel’s original era, making his return significant.<\/p>\n

\"tx<\/p>\n

Photographer:\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Related: EastEnders confirms return for Joel Marshall as Max Murray reprises role<\/a> <\/p>\n

Speaking about returning to Walford after nearly three decades away, Lee said: “It was quite surreal stepping back on to Albert Square after so many years as it’s so familiar to so many of us. It was lovely to see my on-screen family again.”<\/p>\n

Bissix’s return may feel more familiar, as the Hollyoaks star<\/a> had already reprised her role as Clare earlier this year during Nigel’s dementia storyline. As Nigel’s adoptive daughter, she has long been one of the most important figures in his personal history. <\/p>\n

Nigel raised Clare as his own following the death of her mother, and his relationship with Julie ultimately grew from her being Clare’s teacher. Though Clare’s history in Walford later became far more complicated, her bond with Nigel remained central.<\/p>\n

“When I returned earlier this year, we always knew Clare had to come back for Nigel’s funeral,” said Bissix of her return. “He 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.”<\/p>\n

\"nigel<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: EastEnders’ Elaine devastated by Ian betrayal in last-minute election scandal<\/a><\/p>\n

Nigel’s dementia battle has proven to be one of the soap’s most emotional storylines in recent memory. Several former cast members returned, with Pam St Clement<\/a>, Shaun Williamson and Nicola Duffett all helping to honour Nigel’s place in the show’s history. <\/p>\n

Ross Kemp also recently reprised his role as Grant Mitchell, with the actor telling The Independent<\/a> that his return was partly motivated by his desire to pay tribute to both his late father and Dame Barbara Windsor, who played Peggy Mitchell in the soap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One. <\/p>\n

Read more EastEnders spoilers on our dedicated homepage<\/a>
<\/p>\n

More information about dementia is available via organisations including the NHS<\/a> and Dementia UK<\/a>. Resources for readers in the US are available via the National Institutes of Health<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EastEnders is preparing for an emotional goodbye following Nigel Bates’s devastating death, with the BBC soap confirming the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[137241,635,197504,637,146,85,46,195853,636,197503,137371,411],"class_list":["post-418933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-cc5f0f8c-3184-4740-b303-444a71358685","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-eastenders-confirms-two-major-returns-in-funeral-storyline","tag-subsection-eastenders","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}