EastEnders star hints at villain's return with social media post alongside new cast member

Following her shock return to EastEnders for this year's Christmas storyline, Chrissie Watts star Tracy-Ann Oberman has teased that she may be back on Albert Square sooner rather than later.

Despite only returning on Christmas Eve for the first time since September 2024, Chrissie Watts has already left the soap once again, after causing havoc for Zoe Slater.

However, Oberman recently shared a photo on Instagram alongside new EastEnders cast member Ronni Ancona, who will be playing an old friend of Linda Carter's named Bea.

Ancona will make her debut in January, meaning her and Oberman's filming dates are unlikely to have overlapped. It seems this may not be the last we've seen of Chrissie in the coming months...

Recent episodes have seen Zoe's mum, Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace), convinced that Chrissie murdered Dr Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey) and is trying to frame Zoe. Kat is now keen to track Chrissie down. Is Kat set to find Chrissie once more, and is she actually responsible?

Oberman recently explained why she decided to return to the soap after her brief stint in 2024, saying: "I enjoyed my return storyline with Sharon (Letitia Dean) last year so much that when [executive producer] Ben Wadey asked me to pop back for Christmas Day, how could I say no?

"Chrissie is in my DNA; she is such a great character, so, I love the idea of her returning at Christmas to create havoc."

Meanwhile, Wadey teased Ancona's arrival as Bea at a press event for the festive EastEnders episodes, saying: "I was really interested in this having a story that has a bit more of tragedy comedy coming through it. It's a story in which she's an old school friend of Linda's, and she's called Bea.

"The character, Bea, arrives, and her memory of Linda is very different to Linda's memory of Linda."

Wadey added: "And Bea is the sort of character who might attach herself to people. So she kind of comes in and gets to reacquaint herself with Linda, but it's also going to be a big story for some other characters. Billy and Honey are going to be big in the new year and will be involved in that story as well.

"So it's a story which, as a team, every time we watch it and read it, we love it, we laugh, and we cry, and it's really, really fun."

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