The much-awaited return of Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman) to EastEnders is almost here, marking the end of the season for fans of the soap opera.
The last time the former Queen Vic landlady was spotted on the Square was 19 years ago. She was notorious for killing her husband Den (Leslie Grantham) and letting Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) get away with it.
Fans have longed for her to stage a comeback, with EastEnders confirming her return earlier this year, with star Tracy-Ann reprising the role that made her a household name two decades on.
What exactly prompts Chrissie’s historic return remains to be seen as storyline details are largely being kept under wraps, but next Monday’s (September 9) offering of the BBC One soap sees the convicted murderer back in the Square – and it doesn’t take long for drama to ensue!
The chaos continues throughout the week, with Chrissie’s presence well and truly sending shockwaves through the Square, before a difficult week comes to a head.
The question is: just what are Chrissie’s circumstances when we find her next? And, given this is Walford we’re talking out, which of her former foes can we expect to see her locking horns with upon her return?
You’ll just have to tune in to find out!
Discussing her return – and the secrecy surrounding it – Tracy-Ann said: ‘It was really lovely to go back. I’ve got friends and actors in it now who are friends from outside of EastEnders, with people like Harriet [Thorpe, who plays Elaine] and Colin [Salmon, who plays George].
‘It was great to see them there, and I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody I was in it as it was all kept under hush, hush and the scripts were written with a fake name, and a fake location. I was in the bath after the second night of filming, and I got a phone call from Harriet saying “Darling, will I be seeing you anytime soon?” and I said “what do you mean?”.
‘She said “I’ve worked it out, it’s you isn’t it?” So, it was good fun. Everything I did was kept very much under wraps for security because they didn’t want it to leak, but Harriet cracked it.”
It’s been almost 20 years since we last saw Chrissie, but Tracy-Ann admits that getting back into character was like putting an a ‘really nice old coat’.
‘Chris [Clenshaw, EastEnders boss] did say, “Can you make your hair go curly again?”, she laughed. ‘I don’t think I’ve worn it curly since I left EastEnders so that was weird going back to curly hair.
‘They did send me some of the episodes to remind myself of when we last saw her but I lived with that character for so many storylines and she got into such interesting scrapes within that time.
‘On the first day, it was like putting a really nice old coat on that you’ve put away in the back of the wardrobe and you think “I wonder if I’ll ever wear this coat again.” As soon as I put it in on and as soon as I was down there, I thought, “Great, I love this character’.
Last we saw Chrissie, she was jailed for her role in husband Den’s murder.
Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) was believed to have delivered the fatal blow but it was actually Chrissie who finished her husband off, smacking him over the skull with Pauline Fowler’s dog-shaped doorstop.
With some assistance from Sam, the three women buried Den’s body in the barrel store but Sam struggled to cope with what they’d done and decided to dig up Den’s remains – on Sharon’s (Letitia Dean) wedding day to Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman).
Phil and Grant Mitchell (Steve McFadden and Ross Kemp) returned to Walford to rescue Sam, who was framed for the murder, and they managed to expose Chrissie in 2005.
Viewers have often wondered what Chrissie is up to in the years since, so next week will certainly be one to watch.
But the question on all our lips is, with Chrissie’s upcoming return being a guest one, can we expect to see another comeback at a later date?
“I’m very lucky that I work a lot, and I do lots of very interesting thing, on stage, on screen and on radio,” responded Tracy-Ann when asked that very question. ‘I’ve got Merchant of Venice coming up, and I’ve worked solidly over the years.
‘I never thought I would come back, but Chris absolutely persuaded me and because I think he’s an amazing executive producer, I went with it. He loves the show and wants to honour everything about it for the 40th anniversary. I had such a great time, so you know what they say, never say never.’
