EastEnders' Shane Richie teases Kat and Alfie future amid cancer storyline
EastEnders actor Shane Richie has teased a hopeful future between his iconic character Alfie Moon and his on-off love interest, Kat Slater.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror about Kat and Alfie's tumultuous love life throughout the years, Shane revealed that he longs to go back to a time when the pair were at their happiest - when they were living in Ireland.
Avid EastEnders fans will remember that Kat, played by Jesse Wallace, and Alfie got their own EastEnders spin-off show back in 2017, when they starred in Redwater together. The dramatic series followed the two EastEnders characters on their move to Ireland in search of Kat's long lost son.
EastEnders Shane Richie teases Kat and Alfie future amid prostate cancer storyline (BBC/Patrick Redmond)After spending weeks looking for her son around the remote Irish sea-side down, Kat finally discovered he was Vicar called Dermott Dolan - but instead of finding the kind-hearted son she had dreamed about, she and Alfie discovered a sinister history in the town.
As it turned out, Kat's long lost son was a murdered who killed another man on the spin-off show before he ultimately confirmed to Kat that he was her child. In the end, fans of Redwater were only gifted one series of the spin-off show - but soap star Shane has now revealed that he would 'love nothing more' than return to Ireland for a second series.
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"I loved filming in Ireland and I adore the Irish people, so getting to work there was a bit of a dream. Everyone knows that Kat and Alfie are made for one another, and if the opportunity presented itself to do another series, I'd jump on it - but sadly I'm not sure it would work after everything that has happened in their EastEnders storylines and lives since," Shane revealed.
In recent months, Shane has been busy filming another storyline which has gripped the nation. The loveable East End character has been diagnosed with prostate cancer after showing symptoms - but has decided to keep his diagnosis a secret from Kat in order to protect her.
And playing out the cancer storyline has been more instrumental to Shane's life than he could have anticipated. The actor revealed that he recently went for his first prostate cancer check just a couple of days before finding out that his character, Alfie, was diagnosed with the disease.
Shane, who has been on the show since 2002, explained that he was asked to come in for a chat with soap boss Chris Clenshaw and assumed that he was going to inform him of a future storyline involving Alfie's ex Kat.
Shane's iconic character Alfie Moon has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer (BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)However, he was left floored when Chris asked him how he would feel about Alfie developing prostate cancer. "This is absolutely true, I don’t think I’ve told many people this other than my wife - two days before that meeting I went for a health check for prostate cancer. Only because it was on my radar. I’m getting to that age now and I’m starting to get reminded by a couple of friends and a close friend of mine who I’ve known since I was 16 went through prostate cancer, thankfully he’s out the other side, and I remember thinking ‘he’s not much older than me’."
"I’ve got a young family, I thought right, I’ve got a couple of days off from EastEnders, I’m gonna go along for a check-up. Thankfully I was alright, but two days later I had the meeting about doing this story." For Shane, his upcoming storyline is by far his most challenging. He continued: "This is such an important story. The fact they gave that particular storyline to a character like Alfie Moon...people are familiar with Alfie after 21 years, maybe another character might not have had the same impact."
Sharing his thoughts on whether there could be a possible reunion for Alfie and Kat, Shane was quick to hint at the possibility of it happening. "Me and Jessie have known each other for 21 years and every time we do a scene together we keep getting notes from upstairs saying 'don't look at each other'. In case we give any clues away. They don't want to see the relationship we used to have." He added: "So Jessie might brush past me and I'm going 'stop Kat, you can't touch me, don't look at me like that!' But who knows. Next year, something might happen, but we don't know just yet."
It comes as EastEnders fans believe that Alfie's diagnosis will tie in with the Christmas plot. It has already been revealed that at Christmas a man is found dead on Sharon's wedding day. The six women - Denise (Diane Parish), Kathy (Gillian Taylforth), Linda (Kellie Bright), Sharon (Letitia Dean), Stacey (Lacey Turner) and Suki (Balvinder Sopal) - all find the body.
And now some viewers are now convinced Alfie's diagnosis will bring Kat and Alfie back together, and Phil will instead end up marrying Sharon this festive season.
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Macmillan Cancer Support and Prostate Cancer UK.
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