Back to Square one

SOAP fans are celebrating the return of Michelle Ryan to EastEnders back as gobby Zoe Slater after a 20-year gap.

- BY SANJEETA BAINS

She left Walford in 2005 after landing the role of Jaime Sommers in the US remake of Bionic Woman. But the 2007 show was axed after just one series.

Michelle, 41, is far from the only British star to be enjoying rebound! soap success after following their acting dreams over the pond.

Even one Oscar winner realised that home really is where the heart is...

Patsy Palmer, EastEnders

Michelle's Albert Square colleague famous for those yells of "Rickaaay!" as Bianca Butcher, headed to California in 2014 with her husband Richard Merkell and her four children.

But her career did not make as much headway out there, according to her IMDB entry, which cites a 2014 TV commercial for Best Buy and a UK short film in 2015, which starred her son Charley Palmer Rothwell, 33.

Her son Fenton Merkell, 25, dated supermodel Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaia Gerber after they met as models.

But the allure of Bianca's Puffa jacket has proven too strong. Patsy, 53, has yo-yoed in and out of the BBC soap for years. She returned last year, staying until earlier this year, when she went on Celebrity Big Brother.

Rob Kazinsky, EastEnders

He played Sean Slater from 2006 until 2009, before landing his big break in vampire series True Blood in 2013, as Macklyn Warlow.