Gillian Taylforth on Kathy Beale’s return to EastEnders: Back for good?

EastEnders executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins has teased Kathy Beale’s upcoming return to Albert Square, admitting that there are some big twists and turns ahead as she adapts to her old life.

Viewers last saw her “die” in a auto accident in South Africa in 2006.

“It was about going back to our history, bringing back a Beale matriarch who we all want to see”, he said.

The return of Kathy Beale – played by Gillian Taylforth – is one of the biggest story lines the show has seen this year.

Kathy Beale is back on EastEnders – and, while soap fans are delighted, no one is happier than the actress who plays her.

However, it’s later revealed Kathy faked her death as part of an insurance scam and has now returned from the dead.

At a recent press event, actress Gillian Taylforth told us how she’s very glad to be back, why Kathy’s story is very plausible, and how her family – on-screen and off – have reacted to her shock return…

“I obviously had to tell my partner, because I was disappearing at 11 o’clock at night and I was anxious he thought I might have got a new job down at King’s Cross or something”, she said.

“The reaction we’re holding off is the reaction from Ian and Ben”.

Wife Anne collected more than £500,000 in life insurance payouts, while he hid in their home, leaving their two sons to believe he was dead. “It’s big, heavy, heavy stuff”.

‘We always make sure that each story is rooted in reality, ‘ Dominic told The Mirror.

He shared: “We always said we would only do it if we had a credible story to bring her back and the [30th] anniversary felt like the right time”. To be working back with Adam (Woodyatt, Ian) and Tish (Dean, Sharon) and Steve (McFadden, Phil) it’s brilliant, it really is.

Realising something is going on, a determined Sharon heads to over to see what is going on and is shocked when she sees Kathy.

“My daughter even calls her Nana!”

As the storyline unfolds, we learn that Kathy’s abusive husband Gavin Sullivan, played by Just Good Friends actor Paul Nicholas, was behind the plot – and he has followed her to Walford.

Treadwell-Collins describes Gavin as “the most manipulative and risky villain EastEnders has ever had”.

The Huffington Post states that he added, “He makes Archie Mitchell look like a Care Bear…”