{"id":649675,"date":"2026-06-20T23:05:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/649675\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T23:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:05:29","slug":"eastenders-legend-addresses-possible-return-five-years-after-exit-ive-got-such-a-big-family-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/649675\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders legend addresses possible return five years after exit: “I’ve got such a big family there”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former EastEnders<\/a> star Maisie Smith<\/a> has spoken about a possible return to the soap years after her departure, admitting she has “such a big family there”. The star rose to fame playing Tiffany Butcher-Baker on the show, appearing on-and-off for 13 years before saying goodbye in 2021.<\/p>\n

Maisie left at the time to pursue other acting opportunities, and admitted in a new interview that she wouldn’t accept any potential offer to come back at the moment.<\/p>\n

“I can’t think I’d say yes right now because of what I’ve got coming up,” she told Radio Times<\/a>‘ In the Interval podcast.<\/p>\n

\"tiffany<\/p>\n

Kieron McCarron \/ Jack Barnes\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

“I’m really enjoying the idea of playing different characters,” the actor continued, though did add: “But thing is with EastEnders, it is gonna be there forever and I’ve got such a big family there. On screen and off screen.”<\/p>\n

Opening up further about her exit, Maisie shared: “I ultimately decided to leave EastEnders because as much as I loved playing Tiffany and I loved the family that was there, I was itching to get on the stage.”<\/p>\n

Last year, the star reflected on career regrets<\/a> ahead of her role in a stage production of The Talented Mr Ripley<\/a>, explaining that she turned down parts in the past due to fear.<\/p>\n

“I spent so many years questioning whether I was good enough to do other things and turned down a lot of opportunities \u2013 things I now regret \u2013 out of pure fear,” she told Ox in a Box.<\/p>\n

\"keegan<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: EastEnders lines up new worry for Honey Mitchell as date night goes wrong<\/a><\/p>\n

“People kept telling me it was a brutal world out there and that I’d have to jump into the deep end.<\/p>\n

“So it was scary to leave EastEnders, but over the past few years I’ve learned to trust my gut instinct. So yes, I do think I’ve been brave, but I’m loving it.”<\/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

Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating the global phenomenon of BTS, is here! Buy this ultimate fan guide in newsagents or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former EastEnders star Maisie Smith has spoken about a possible return to the soap years after her departure,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[147950,379,218649,381,96,190731,1156,218648,148025,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-649675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-356e015e-ac1b-4b32-be0d-cc3651717826","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-eastenders-legend-on-possible-return-five-years-after-exit","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\/649675","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=649675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}