EastEnders confirms new Zoe Slater twists amid secret return in early BBC iPlayer release

The BBC One soap aired the surprising return of Zoe, once again played by Michelle Ryan, in Monday's episode, where she was revealed to be in a bad way and in contact with Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner).

Stacey called in Zoe's stepfather, Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), to visit the flat Zoe was staying in, and the episode made clear that Zoe was in a bad way.

In Tuesday's episode, Stacey revealed that Zoe had fled Spain and returned to London, having become indebted to loan sharks. She got in contact with Stacey, who was staying in a temporary flat of her own, away from the Square with her youngest children.

The one thing that a bruised Zoe remained especially adamant about, however, was that she did not want her mother, Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace), to be contacted.

As Stacey got Alfie up to speed on the distressing situation Zoe found herself in, and Alfie highlighted that he needed to be honest with Kat about Zoe, the latter was shown to be secretly listening to the conversation.

As Alfie went on to try and persuade Zoe to reunite with her family and meet her siblings, Zoe remained furious at the suggestion, even referencing how Kat had married into the Mitchells despite Zoe's history with Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) and their involvement in the murder of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham).

Meanwhile, as Kat worried about the bad behaviour of son Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall), she called Alfie to get him to return home, but he lied on the phone that he was with friends. Alfie's lies were confirmed to Kat when Tommy showed her through a tracking app where Mr Moon was.

At Stacey's flat, messages rolled in showing that Zoe was being threatened by the loan sharks, and Alfie discussed finding ways to help pay the loan sharks off, until Stacey grew suspicious of Zoe.

Asking why so many messages had only come in during the last hour, especially, Stacey rang the number on the phone, and a second phone in the flat began to sound - Zoe had been sending the messages herself.

After more interrogation, it was revealed that Zoe had made up the whole loan shark story and had just needed somewhere to stay and to obtain money.

While Alfie and Stacey voiced their desire to contact Kat again, Zoe reacted dramatically and threw a phone as she stayed adamant she wanted nothing to do with Kat.

The episode concluded with Alfie trying to understand what it was that Zoe needed from him to help her, but then the door sounded as Kat shouted through the letterbox that she needed Alfie to return home.

Is Zoe about to be reunited with her mother?

The BBC has confirmed that Michelle Ryan is back for three episodes this week but will be making her full-time return later in the summer.

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EastEnders airs on BBC One at 7.30pm on Mondays to Thursdays. Stream on iPlayer on the same days at 6am.

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