EASTENDERS bosses could be playing a blinder bringing the iconic Chrissie Watts back – but only if they get it right.
It’s a tale as old as soap that bringing back a legendary character will get fans very excited and this is no exception.
Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman is a rare breed amongst soap actors – she’s phenomenally talented and played a truly iconic character for a relatively short period of time but didn’t become typecast.
She’s gone onto huge success across the industry, whether it be for her recent powerhouse performance in The Merchant of Venice, or her long-running role showing off her comedy chops as Aunt Val in Friday Night Dinner.
So coming back is a risk – both for Tracy-Ann and the show.
For EastEnders has been having a bit of an issue making iconic returns, well iconic.
Cindy Beale’s return started off promising and then sort of fell by the wayside.
Her recent bad boy ways have finally kicked things up a gear reminding us all that Cindy is more than just Ian Beale’s wife.
But for every Cindy there’s a Sam – Mitchell, in this case – whose return offered so much promise, and yet amounted to so little.
Now with Chrissie back, there is hope that actress Kim Medcalf may agree to return once more and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
However there was an another high profile EastEnders return of an iconic character that didn’t so much fail to launch as sink without trace – Janine Butcher.
Like Chrissie, Janine was a return that fans desperately wanted.
And then she returned and got bogged down with Mick Carter’s exit and everything great about Janine flopped.
Hopefully bosses have learned from the experience because the same fate must not befall Chrissie.
She is too much of a good character to be let down, and Tracy-Ann is too much of a great actress to not be given the material to sparkle on screen.
So let’s hope they get it right…
