EastEnders fan favourite reveals she turned down return for 'girls' holiday'

This year, we've seen many huge returns in EastEnders including the surprise return of Zoe Slater after two decades. There's one return viewers were deprived of however, as the actress revealed she turned a request down.

During the 40th anniversary celebrations back in February, we saw a number of shock returns including deceased Angie Watts and a cameo from Garry Hobbs and Minty Pearson as they made a surprise visit to the Queen Vic.

Now, actress Lin Blakely, who played Pam Coker in the BBC soap has revealed she was also asked to reprise her role - although she had to turn it down due to holiday plans. Pam arrived in the Square in September 2014, making an emotional exit in 2022.

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"It’s funny because at the beginning of the year, February, I was just about to go on holiday and the guy in casting rang my agent and said, “Ask Lin, I want her to come back in for three eps with the hope of maybe coming back in permanently," she told Matthew Rolland in his Isolation Interviews series.

However, Lin revealed she had to turn it down due to having a holiday booked with a friend. "it never happened because I had a friend I was going away with and I didn’t want to let her down," she revealed.

Despite this, the actress is hopeful she may be able to return again in the future one day. "I thought they'd ask me again when I got back as I was only away ten days, but they didn't," she said.

Lin portrayed Pam Coker on the soap from 2014-2022, and was on the Square with her husband Les and her grandson Paul.

During her time on the soap, Pam was involved in a lot of hard hitting storylines, as she found out her undertaker husbandLes had a secret cross-dressing alter egonamed Christine after it was believed he was having an affair with Claudette.

Off-screen, Paul was killed in a homophobic attack after a night out with boyfriend Ben Mitchell. Pam and Les later left the Square in 2022 to start a new life after a period of grief.

Upon learning about the news, EastEnders fans were left gutted as they took to X, formerly known as Twitter to discuss. "WE NEED HER BACK PERMANENTLY!" exclaimed one fan, as another begged producer Ben Wadey to "bring Pam and Les back."

Another fan laughed: "What an icon - 'I had a holiday booked so I chose to go on that instead,'" while another responded: "Not her declining for a gals holiday omg bring her back."

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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