{"id":447296,"date":"2026-02-26T20:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/447296\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:48:11","slug":"eastenders-reveals-special-episode-in-dramatic-clare-bates-return-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/447296\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders reveals special episode in dramatic Clare Bates return week"},"content":{"rendered":"

EastEnders<\/a> spoilers follow.<\/p>\n

EastEnders has shared more details of Clare Bates’<\/a> comeback as part of Nigel Bates’ ongoing dementia storyline<\/a>. Clare, played by Gemma Bissix<\/a>, was last seen in Walford in 2008, leaving after her manipulative money-making scheme \u2013 that saw her con the likes of Bradley Branning, Jack Branning, and Ian Beale \u2013 was exposed.<\/p>\n

Now that her father is back in the soap and battling dementia, Clare is set to arrive in some of the BBC soap’s most emotional scenes<\/a> in a very special episode.<\/p>\n

Airing on 5 March, the EastEnders episode will solely focus on a party held for Nigel at The Queen Vic before he is taken to a care home.<\/p>\n

\"nigel<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services UK 2026 \u2014 including Disney Plus, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV+<\/a><\/p>\n

It begins with Nigel’s wife Julie<\/a> being furious that Clare and Lexi Pearce discharged Nigel without telling her. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kat and Zoe Slater are busy getting the Vic ready to honour Nigel alongside his loved ones. <\/p>\n

Chelsea Fox supports Clare as she and Julie struggle to resolve their differences<\/a>, while the local community rallies around Nigel as he arrives at the pub for one last time.<\/p>\n

As the night draws to a close, Yolande Trueman provides a shoulder for Julie to cry on, while Clare and Phil Mitchell take Nigel to the care home to settle him in.<\/p>\n

\"clare<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Soon after, the enormity of Nigel’s situation takes a heavy toll on all three of them and is sure to prove hard to navigate over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Speaking about Clare’s return to the soap and how Nigel’s condition affects her, Gemma said: “It\u2019s really heartbreaking for her.<\/p>\n

“Clare feels like Julie only called her at this late stage as a punishment to get back at her. In Clare\u2019s mind, it feels quite cruel because I think Clare really wanted the chance to apologise to her dad.”<\/p>\n

EastEnders airs on Mondays-Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast. <\/p>\n

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

For exclusive soap star interviews, gossip, spoilers and theories every week, don’t miss the Soap Scoop podcast<\/a> from Inside Soap magazine. The latest episode<\/a> delves into next week\u2019s soap spoilers for EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale \u2013 featuring Carla and Lisa\u2019s baby shock, Clare Bates\u2019 return and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EastEnders spoilers follow. EastEnders has shared more details of Clare Bates’ comeback as part of Nigel Bates’ ongoing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[147950,379,162284,381,96,1156,162283,148025,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-447296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-8b0dfc9c-f6e7-47b3-a851-0243ee71b197","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-eastenders-reveals-special-episode-as-clare-bates-returns","tag-subsection-eastenders","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}