{"id":652252,"date":"2026-06-22T14:05:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T14:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/652252\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T14:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T14:05:19","slug":"major-eastenders-star-unexpectedly-returns-to-show-after-2-years-soaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/652252\/","title":{"rendered":"Major EastEnders star unexpectedly returns to show after 2 years | Soaps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Karen
\n\t\tLorraine Stanley unexpectedly appeared in the latest episode of EastEnders as Karen Taylor (Picture: BBC)<\/p>\n

EastEnders<\/a>\u00a0spoilers follow for Monday\u2019s (June 22) episode, which can now be streamed on\u00a0BBC<\/a>\u00a0iPlayer. The episode in question will air at 7:30pm.<\/p>\n

Karen Taylor <\/a>made an unexpected appearance in today\u2019s EastEnders, with star Lorraine Stanley<\/a> reprising her role for a phone call with Chelsea Fox<\/a> (Zaraah Abrahams<\/a>). <\/p>\n

Chelsea, as fans know, reached out to Sheila Atkins (Sheila Ruskin) in the wake of son Jordan (Jahsaiah Williams) being knocked down by Ian Beale<\/a> (Adam Woodyatt<\/a>). <\/p>\n

Sheila is the grandmother of serial killer Gray Atkins<\/a> (Toby-Alexander Smith), who killed wife Chantelle (Jesica Plummer) as well as other Square favourites Tina Carter (Luisa Bradshaw-White) and Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami). <\/p>\n

At first, Chelsea was worried about letting Sheila into Jordan\u2019s life, fearing she might be in contact with Gray<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Her initial fears settled after a meeting with Sheila, but Monday\u2019s offering of the BBC One soap once again left her unsettled after she received a series of text messages from the newcomer. <\/p>\n

In a bid to find out more information on Sheila, Chelsea reached out to Karen. <\/p>\n

\t\t\"LIbby
\n\t\tSheila Atkins arrived in the ASquare last week (Picture: BBC \/ Jack Barnes \/ Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\n

With Karen having refrained from allowing grandkids Mack and Mia from having anything to do with Sheila, Chelsea was determined to find out why. <\/p>\n

Karen\u2019s voicemail could be heard when Chelsea attempted to make contact. Later, Jordan \u2013 who returned home from hospital during the episode in question<\/a> \u2013 was playing on Chelsea\u2019s phone when Karen rang back. <\/p>\n

Jordan pressed answer, though didn\u2019t interact with his nan, who could be heard warning Chelsea off getting to know Sheila, revealing that she was \u2018always close\u2019 to Gray, who could \u2018do no wrong\u2019 in her eyes. <\/p>\n

\t\t\"Toby-Alexander
\n\t\tGray could be set to re-enter Chelsea\u2019s life (Picture: BBC \/ Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\n

Chelsea, meanwhile, offered Sheila the opportunity to meet Jordan at some point in the future, unaware of the danger that the newcomer could pose. <\/p>\n

Karen, who debuted in EastEnders in 2017, left the BBC One soap<\/a> as a full-time character in 2023 \u2013 with her family in tow. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tDon’t miss a Soaps scoop! Add us as a Preferred Source\t\t\t<\/p>\n

As a loyal Metro Soaps reader, we want to make sure you never miss our articles when searching for stories. We have all the latest soaps news, spoilers, videos, and interviews, with a vibrant community of highly engaged readers.<\/p>\n

Click the button below and tick\u00a0Metro.co.uk\u00a0to ensure you see stories from us first in Google Search.<\/p>\n

\nAdd us as a Preferred Source<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Soaps
\n\t\tNow you can ensure you never miss a story from the Soaps team<\/p>\n

She returned numerous times in 2024 following the death of son Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters). <\/p>\n

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on\u00a0BBC\u00a0One or stream from 6am on BBC iPlayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a soap or TV story, video or pictures get in touch by emailing us\u00a0soaps@metro.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n

Join the community by leaving a comment below and\u00a0stay updated on all things soaps on our homepage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: EastEnders fans confused by Chelsea\u2019s claim about serial killer Gray\u2019s victims<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: EastEnders favourite sacked as desperate Ian takes drastic action<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: Chelsea to destroy Ian in EastEnders after devastating prognosis for Jordan<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tComment now<\/p>\n

\t\t\tComments
\n\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tAdd as preferred source
\n\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tThe Soaps Newsletter \u2013 Daily<\/p>\n

All the latest soaps spoilers and gossip, in your inbox every morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lorraine Stanley unexpectedly appeared in the latest episode of EastEnders as Karen Taylor (Picture: BBC) EastEnders\u00a0spoilers follow for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[139020,1078,96,59,219375,219376,1609,56,54,55,102941],"class_list":["post-652252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-chelsea-fox","tag-eastenders","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-karen-taylor","tag-lorraine-stanley","tag-soaps","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-zaraah-abrahams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652252","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=652252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}