“You’ll be ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED when you discover which EastEnders legend has ruled out a return after seven years away…” — And the real reason has left fans completely stunned

Let’s be honest, EastEnders is hardly shy about resurrecting characters, is it?

Perennially, well, dirty, Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), miraculously survived an organised gangland hit and returned to Albert Square to cause more chaos before he was finally killed, properly this time.

Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) was another who we were told was definitely dead, only to later reappear absolutely not dead.

Years after learning his mother was actually very-much-alive, Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) discovered that his ex-wife, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), had also played the same death-faking trick.

Honestly, I’m sure he’s probably waiting for another believed-dead relative to stroll through the door at any point now.

But apparently, some deaths are far too finite to be reversed, and Tamzin Outhwaite, beloved by soap fans as the tragic Mel Owen, reckons that’s probably the case for her alter ego. Mel passed away after being hit by a lorry as her feud with Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) reached a fever pitch.

During an appearance on Lorraine this week, Tamzin was asked the question that all former-soap stars, whether their characters are dead or alive, get asked: would she ever return to her old stomping grounds?

‘I don’t think Mel can come back,’ Tamzin admitted. ‘We saw the body in the bag and the zip go over her face so I don’t think that’s a possibility.’

Of course, Hollyoaks tore the rule book up when it came to characters rising from body bags, when their ultimate villain Clare Devine (Gemma Bissix), who’d previously been zipped in a bag, revealed that she had actually survived with the help of some corrupt-copper/gangster skulduggery.

In fact, another trope that they brought to the UK soap landscape, the ‘evil twin’, with Jeremy Sheffield playing the psychotic Patrick Blake and his even-more-psychotic evil twin, Jez Blake, was offered as an alternative by Lorraine.

‘I actually have thought about her having an evil twin! Or even just a nicer twin, or a mentally stable twin would be good!’ Tamzin laughed in response.

Tamzin went on to speak about her current project. She’s starring in Abigail’s Party, which will be making its way to the West End, with another soap alum, Omar Malik, who played Shaq Qureshi in Hollyoaks.

‘It’s excruciating but wonderful, I think it’s a ‘state of the nation’ play, and he’s such a brilliant writer, Mike Leigh’, she said of the production, before describing her character as ‘grotesque’ and ‘despicable’.

Describing her character’s approach to other people, Tamzin likened it to ‘picking the legs off a spider… with a smile on her face and all under the guise of manners’.

Tamzin previously spoke to Metro about how she felt when Mel was killed, revealing she went on a journey with her feelings about it.

‘At the time, I was also quite devastated that she was killed off, because you mourn a character like that, who’s taken up a big section of your life’, she began.

But now, I just wouldn’t be taking so many risks [if that hadn’t happened] and it makes me feel comfortable that it’s not possible to go back. I definitely had the feeling before of ‘oh, it would be nice to go back as an older character, that’s got some history in the square’. So yeah, I was really quite sad at the time and now I’m actually really happy about it.’