Jessie Wallace hopes Kat Slater stays "single" when she returns to \'EastEnders\'.
The 46-year-old actress makes her comeback as the legendary character in the BBC One soap next week amidst confusion for the Slater clan and the residents of Albert Square who have been told by Kat\'s grandmother Big Mo - played by the returning Laila Morse - that she is dead.
Although details of Kat\'s big return are being kept under wraps, it is known that she won\'t be back with husband Alfie Moon and although Jessie admits it will be weird for her to be without her co-star Shane Richie she thinks it can give Kat a new lease of life in Walford.
Speaking to the Radio Times magazine, she said: "It did feel weird coming back without Shane. I\'m sure he\'s busy doing other stuff. I\'m not sure what the writers have in store, but it will be exciting for the fans. I\'d like Kat to be more with her family - I like the banter and them getting up to mischief. And I\'d like her to be single for a while - I want to build the Slaters back up and see where it goes from there."
Jessie, 46, started her \'EastEnders\' journey in 2000 before departing five years later, and making her first return in 2010, while she also reprised her role last year in a six-part spin-off \'Kat & Alfie: Redwater\'.
For her latest comeback, the star also admitted she would love to see Michelle Ryan return as Kat\'s daughter Zoe Slater, with the pair giving viewers one of the most memorable moments in soap history when it was revealed she was actually Kat\'s child and not her sister.
Jessie said: "I think it would be a great storyline if Zoe were to come back. It\'d be brilliant. I still get people shouting, \'You ain\'t my mother!\' at me and asking me to say \'yes, I am.\' "
However, Jessie\'s hopes for Michelle to return to the fold are not set to come true because the 33-year-old star has admitted she\'s happy to leave \'EastEnders\' in the past.
Michelle left the series in 2005 after five years in the role to pursue a career in America, but even though she doesn\'t want to return she\'d be happy to see someone else take on the part of Zoe.
She previously told BANG Showbiz: "It was my decision to leave. I spent five years there, and I wouldn\'t have stayed beyond that time. I think that was very much my choice, I know they\'re probably thinking \'well would you like to come back\' but I think the best thing would be if they recast the role. I had such a good time doing it, and it was such an incredible opportunity and I feel like there\'s another actress out there who\'s yet to have her break ... It\'s not part of my life anymore but I feel it would be the right thing to recast the role. Zoe is such a great character and there\'s such untapped territory there and there will be some actress out there that\'s desperate for that break and I would say give that actress that break because it\'s just the best learning curve working there."
