EastEnders' Patsy Palmer seen on BBC set as she reprises iconic Bianca role

25 January 2024 , 18:15

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Patsy Palmer is returning to EastEnders (Image: BBC)

EastEnders icon Patsy Palmer is making a huge comeback on the long-running soap after five years away.

The 51-year-old soap actress is known for her role as Bianca Jackson in the BBC soap, which earned her The British Soap Award for Best Actress. She was first cast in the role in 1993 and had many incredible storylines before she left in 1999 to spend more time with her family and concentrate on new projects.

She reprised the role in May 2002 in a special entitled, EastEnders: Ricky and Bianca. In 2005, she claimed she wouldn't return to the show but was seen back on screens in 2008. She left again in 2014 and returned for a short stint in 2019. In recent days, it was confirmed the actress would be coming back for one more short stint.

Bianca's last storyline included her being in Walford for Whitney's doomed wedding to Callum Highway. The character now lives in Milton Keynes and upcoming scenes will have Whitney Dean and boyfriend Zack Hudson visit her.

Her character now lives in Milton Keynes (BBC / Kieron McCarron)

Of course, it isn't a true soap unless chaos ensues between the characters. In pictures shared with The Sun, Patsy looked right at home as she filmed on set with Shona McGarty and James Farrar. Fellow star Natalie Cassidy also joined them for the upcoming scenes.

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Patsy wore a purple puffer jacket, skinny jeans and silver-heeled boots as she chatted with her castmates in between scenes. Shona's character Whitney was also seen with a baby bump as part of her current storyline. Earlier this month, Patsy discussed her return to the soap in a recent chat.

She said viewers can expect to see a much calmer Bianca – and a different Patsy from the hard-living party girl she was in the 1990s. It is five years since Patsy was last in EastEnders, and she can’t wait to return. Now living in Malibu, California, with her husband, Richard Merkell, and four children, she said: “I must admit, when I see people in EastEnders, when I go back to work it is like putting on an old pair of slippers.

"They are family. I spent more time with them when I was in the show than with any of my own family.” Patsy, who has been open about suffering from anxiety, tells the How To Own The Room podcast: “Looking back now, everything was so much bigger at the time.

“I was very young and we were thrown into the height of fame not realising there were 22 million people watching us. At some moments in all that madness back in the 1990 it would hit you and you would feel so overwhelmed and the anxiety would kick in. If you suffer from anxiety attacks, you don’t know what is happening. For me it was very environmental and about what was happening around me and what was happening in my life at that time. People see all the awards and people think it is glamorous, but it is the hardest work I have ever had at EastEnders.”

Zara Woodcock