Janine Butcher’s comeback must channel her classic EastEnders era – with one vital twist

Charlie Brooks is rumoured to be reprising her iconic role.

Charlie Brooks as Janine Butcher wearing a black top and necklace

BBC/Kieron McCarron

Published: Saturday, 1 August 2026 at 9:00 am

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EastEnders' most infamous villainess is rumoured to be heading back home, with reports circulating that Charlie Brooks is reprising her iconic role as Janine Butcher.

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Arrested in 2022 for perverting the course of justice, we always knew we hadn’t seen the last of the soap’s ultimate comeback queen.

Through a source via The Sun, it’s said that Janine will only be around for a few episodes, but even if that is the case, there's still a golden opportunity to revitalise the character and offset the events of her most recent era.

This time, she won’t be playing nice as landlady of The Queen Vic, so she’ll have nothing to lose. I’m expecting to see her authentic self, with EastEnders taking Janine back to her classic roots.

Long-term viewers will recall that her sins haven’t always been as premeditated as befriending, seducing and marrying Mick Carter (Danny Dyer). From blackmailing Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) when he hired her as a sex worker to pushing first husband Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson) off a cliff to his death, Janine's most outrageous schemes are typically based on whatever off-the-cuff move she's just made.

It's her most unpredictable behaviour that creates the very best television, and even being fresh out of prison has no business taming her. If the show truly wants to take advantage of all she has to offer, it will give her free rein to be more 'Janine' than ever before, raise the stakes even higher and make her next crime change everything we thought we knew about what she’s capable of.

EastEnders' Janine Butcher

EastEnders' Janine.  BBC

Amid the inevitable carnage, savage put-downs should be flung around left, right and centre, whether her target is Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), who surely won’t be getting any kind of apology for Janine framing her, or veteran resident Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) who would happily go to battle for Linda - as would sharp-tongued Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe).

I can see Janine picking them all off one by one with well-timed insults, but it’s when she goes up against fellow villains that Janine really shines – as proven when she outsmarted and then murdered toxic husband Michael Moon (Steve John Shepherd).

It’s a given, then, that Janine could give original super-b***h Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) or ruthless new blood Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington) a run for their money through nothing but sheer audacity, as well as going in for round two in a war of words with hard-faced Suki Panesar-Unwin (Balvinder Sopal).

Suki stands, arms crossed, talking to Nicola in the Minute Mart in EastEnders

Laura Doddington as Nicola Mitchell and Balvinder Sopal as Suki Panesar-Unwin. BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron

As every soap fan knows, though, a character of Janine’s calibre doesn’t become so without a rich backstory and multiple layers, so she needs some warmer material to redress the balance.

Brooks has always been able to flick that switch and remind us that behind her despicable acts, Janine is just a desperate little girl whose every twisted move is driven by her late dad, Frank’s (Mike Reid), constant abandonment throughout her childhood.

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In tearing apart Linda’s once unbreakable marriage to Mick so she could have him for herself, those of us familiar with Butcher lore understood that Janine, as selfish as she is, also just wanted to feel safe and be someone’s first choice; even if, deep down, she knew she wasn’t Mick’s.

I was, naturally, transfixed by the spectacular unravelling of Janine’s deception and look forward to more turbulence at her hands. But by the end of that arc, there wasn’t nearly enough space made for her troubled mindset.

Janine’s maternal instincts, once able to co-exist with her dark side, had all but disappeared too as she manipulated daughter Scarlett (Tabitha Byron) to keep up her web of lies.

I hope EastEnders can remedy this by reinforcing Janine’s love for her child, as per her early scenes as a mother - whether the now-teenager, currently being raised with her half-brother by their uncle Ricky (Sid Owen), appears alongside her or not.

There's also scope for Janine's young son to become a new Achilles heel for her. Did she name the boy after Frank - or does he bear the name of his presumed dead father Mick?

There simply must be room for her to be vulnerable, and EastEnders can, and has pulled this off across the archives; even when Janine is right in the midst of an almighty showdown.

Pam St Clement, dressed in pink, and Mike Reid, wearing a grey suit and sunglasses, as Pat and Frank Butcher sharing a cocktail in EastEnders

Pat and Frank Butcher in EastEnders. Harry Prosser/Daily Mirror/MirrorpixGetty Images

But, I hear you ask, is there time to highlight Janine’s humanity and ensure she’s still at her explosive, monstrous best during what is believed to be a very brief stint back?

Of course there is!

Brooks has always been a master at portraying even the smallest, swiftest glimpses of those familiar, long-harboured feelings of rejection, intertwined in pitch-perfect contrast with Janine’s many flaws.

Whether it’s a lingering look at her name carved in the brickwork outside 41 Albert Square, or perhaps a run-in with sassy Walford youngster Lexi Pearce (Isabella Brown), who may remind her of herself, there are plenty of ways Janine’s sensitive side can re-emerge without diluting her edge and certainly without overshadowing precious, scandalous screen-time.

Let’s not forget that Lexi’s great-grandfather Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) has always had a misguided loyalty towards Janine, while she’s also tolerated Kim Fox’s (Tameka Empson) company, and being repeatedly and hilariously called 'Janice', so it would be remiss of EastEnders not to throw that into the mix, too.

We’ve been teased via The Sun that Janine’s reappearance will "blow the roof off Albert Square" and if anyone can make that kind of impact while simultaneously honouring what lies beneath the mask, it’s Ms Butcher.

So here’s to Janine rocking up to Walford in all her glory - with a wrath that knows no bounds, and that ever-present chip on her shoulder to make perfect EastEnders magic.

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Authors

Laura Denby in front a white background, she is smiling and looking at the camera

Laura DenbyFreelance Writer

Laura Denby is a Freelance Soaps writer covering all the latest news in the Dales, Cobbles and East End for Radio Times. She's a soaps nerd with a love for comedy drama, and has also written for Digital Spy, Metro UK and Yahoo UK.

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