{"id":445841,"date":"2026-05-26T10:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/445841\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T10:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:27:11","slug":"eastenders-airs-surprise-return-and-2-exits-for-iconic-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/445841\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders airs surprise return and 2 exits for iconic characters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take a deep breath, EastEnders<\/a> fans. Two legendary characters have departed Albert Square, as another beloved local arrived home.<\/p>\n

Today’s episode kicked off with Max Branning’s (Jake Wood) suspicions about Mark Fowler (Stephen Aaron-Sipple) being confirmed.<\/p>\n

The keys that Mark had dropped in the car lot while he was trying to rob the safe were a perfect match for the Mitchell residence’s kitchen door, meaning that he was surely the man responsible for the dealership’s recent vehicle thefts.<\/p>\n

Armed with his evidence, Max and girlfriend Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) publicly accused him, and Lauren Beale (Jacqueline Jossa) leapt to his defence. Having teamed up with him<\/a> to sell some dodgy motors, she couldn’t risk being implicated.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) appeared and made another attempt to connect with his estranged son. He said that he was the one responsible, and not Mark.<\/p>\n

\"Phil,<\/p>\n

Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) drove siblings Sam (Kim Medcalf) and Grant (Ross Kemp) out of Walford.\u00a0BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron<\/p>\n

Max was still contemplating police involvement, though moneybags Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) stepped in to pay his brother and nephew out of yet another sticky situation.<\/a><\/p>\n

However, not satisfied with Grant’s explanation, Max decided to contact the authorities and invite them round to his flat. They wanted to speak to Lauren, and she alerted the Mitchells to what was unfolding.<\/p>\n

Grant, who had already bought his ticket to return to Portugal, grabbed his bags and prepared to leave. Sister Sam (Kim Medcalf) also checked in for the same flight – with Phil reckoning that she was stepping into their late mum Peggy’s shoes by keeping a watchful eye over Grant.<\/p>\n

The police started to walk towards No. 55, and Lauren quickly shouted out for them to stop. She hoped that be stalling them, Grant would be able to make his swift departure.<\/p>\n

Before leaving, he rushed back into the house to retrieve his passport, and had a final conversation with Mark. Sadly, it seemed the two were never going to be able to put their problems to one side when Mark asserted that he didn’t need a mate, or a father.<\/p>\n

As Phil raced his brother and sister off to the airport, a taxi rolled into the Square. The passenger? Sharon Watts!<\/p>\n

\"Letitia<\/p>\n

Letitia Dean as Sharon Watts in EastEnders.\u00a0BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron<\/p>\n

Actress Letitia Dean has reprised her role<\/a> after 7 months away, with Sharon arriving home with young son Albie to surprise her adoptive half-sister Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig) for her wedding.<\/p>\n

Last week, it seemed like Sharon and Vicki’s mum Michelle would be staying in the US while the ceremony took place. Vicki explained to Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) that she’d told them not to spend a ridiculous amount of money on flights.<\/p>\n

Add Radio Times as a Preferred Source on Google<\/a><\/p>\n

Keep up to date on what\u2019s worth watching with your favourite entertainment news from Radio Times \u2013 see more of our exclusive news and interviews featured prominently in Top Stories when using Google.<\/p>\n

\"Radio<\/p>\n

In the penultimate scene of the episode, Sharon burst out of the kitchen and tightly hugged Vicki.<\/p>\n

She’s not the only old face to return to Walford this week – Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) made an unannounced return<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

Is Whitney Dean back permanently?<\/p>\n

Whit’ caught up with Zack Hudson (James Farrar) in Knight Fusion to reveal that she’d found herself a new fella, Ruben.<\/p>\n

He was hopeful of a reunion, and in spite of not being able to win over Vicki, alluded to her husband-to-be Ross Marshall (Alex Walkinshaw) that she could be cheating again.<\/p>\n

Cue the doof doofs!<\/p>\n

Whitney also found time to catch-up with Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) before she departed, though the door has definitely been left open for future returns.<\/p>\n

Radio Times<\/a> understands that McGarty has reprised her role on a guest basis.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Visit our dedicated EastEnders<\/a> page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.<\/p>\n

Add EastEnders to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app<\/a> \u2013 download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.<\/p>\n

Check out more of our Soaps<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide <\/a>to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Take a deep breath, EastEnders fans. Two legendary characters have departed Albert Square, as another beloved local arrived…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-445841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}