EastEnders’ Sharon Watts will be back in Albert Square on Monday (September 22), but is thrown by the sight of her former love rival on the Square
Angie Quinn Screen Time Reporter
19:35, 21 Sep 2025
Zoe Slater is stunned to be faced with Sharon Watts during Monday’s EastEnders(Image: BBC)
EastEnders icon Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) makes a dramatic return to Albert Square on Monday (September 22), only to be confronted by a ghost from her past.
After the tragic loss of her close friend Martin Fowler (James Bye) in February, Sharon was reunited with her adoptive half-sister, Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig). Following Martin’s heart-wrenching funeral, Sharon left Walford to comfort her grieving friend, Michelle Fowler (Jenna Fowler), in Australia.
However, Sharon makes a grand comeback to the Square on Monday (September 22), completely unaware that Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) has also returned after a two-decade hiatus.
Before her departure, Sharon had loaned money to Vicki, who used the funds to help her partner, Ross Marshall (Alex Walkinshaw), compensate a victim of his troubled teenage son, Joel Marshall (Max Murray).
Sharon Watts has returned to Walford and is faced with the past (Image: BBC)READ MORE: EastEnders Phil Mitchell icon Steve McFadden says ‘hard graft’ of BBC soap ‘isn’t fun’READ MORE: BBC EastEnders shares shock Sean Slater update and fans are devastated
Now, Sharon finally returns to Walford with her young son Albie, and in a sneak peek at the tense episode, she is far from pleased to see Zoe, reports OK!.
As the Walford veteran steps out of a black cab, she gets the surprise of her life when she spots Zoe staring back at her from outside the Slater house.
The pair engage in a dramatic stare-off, with no words exchanged, before a shocked Sharon retreats to her home with young Albie, leaving Zoe looking on in confusion.
EastEnders Sharon Watts has returned home after visiting Australia (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)What happened between Sharon and Zoe in EastEnders
In the early noughties, Zoe found herself entangled in a love triangle with Sharon’s adoptive brother Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), sparking a rivalry as Sharon developed feelings for him.
Dennis reciprocated Sharon’s affection and they began a secret relationship, hidden from their father, Dirty Den (Leslie Grantham). The couple planned to escape Walford together on Christmas Day 2004.
However, Den had other plans and manipulated Zoe into falsely claiming she was pregnant with Dennis’s child, effectively derailing Sharon’s romance.
Zoe and Den tricked Dennis into thinking he was going to be a dad (Image: BBC)
This deceit led to the end of Dennis and Sharon’s relationship, with Dennis deciding to stay with Zoe, oblivious to her fabricated pregnancy.
In a desperate attempt to fall pregnant, Zoe was persuaded by Den to sleep with him, hoping to conceive a child and keep Dennis in her life.
When Dennis discovered Zoe in bed with his father, he promptly ended their relationship, rekindling his romance with Sharon and eventually marrying her. Meanwhile, Zoe found herself expecting Den’s baby.
But the plot thickened when Den’s unsettled wife, Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), convinced Zoe to terminate the pregnancy, setting off a new chain of events.
Dennis and Sharon fell in love despite being adoptive siblings in EastEnders (Image: BBC)
Chrissie and Zoe joined forces with a disgruntled Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) to exact revenge on the villainous Den and expose his true nature to Sharon.
Den didn’t take kindly to their scheme and lashed out at Chrissie in The Vic, only to be stopped in his tracks when Zoe hit him with a doorstop.
Zoe believed she had ended Den’s life to protect Chrissie, but after Zoe departed, Den regained consciousness, and it was Chrissie who dealt the deadly blow.
Sam witnessed the true events unfold, but they let Zoe believe she was a killer. Den’s body was subsequently buried in a shallow grave beneath the pub’s barrel store and encased in concrete.
Zoe Slater gave birth to twins in 2006 but she doesn’t know where her son is (Image: BBC)
In due course, Sam revealed the truth to Zoe, leading to a heated confrontation where Zoe struck Chrissie. Zoe also admitted that she terminated Den’s baby and did not have a miscarriage.
In 2005, Zoe reconciled with Dennis and Sharon before bidding farewell to Walford for a fresh start in Ibiza. Chrissie was later convicted of Den’s murder and sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
In recent episodes of EastEnders, Zoe disclosed that she gave birth to twins in 2006, and is convinced her daughter died shortly after being born, while her son survived before she abandoned him. The identity of the twins’ father remains unknown.
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer