While the likes of Jake Wood’s Max Branning and Michelle Ryan’s Zoe Slater have returned to Walford, it’s been a year of departures on the BBC soap. The first character to leave was Navin Chowdhry, who played Balvinder Sopal’s Suki Pansesar-Unwin’s evil husband Navin Chowdhry.

The next two actors to leave the programme were James Bye and Jonny Freeman, who played Martin Freeman and Reiss Colwell on the programme. Both Martin and Reiss lost their lives during the programme’s 40th anniversary week in February following a devastating explosion at the Queen Vic.

With Martin the first baby born on EastEnders, his death began a domino effect of characters leaving Albert Square. First to leave was his ex-wife Sonia Fowler, played by Natalie Cassidy. who fled to Bali with Bianca Jackson, bringing an end to Patsy Palmer’s brief return to the show which made her a star.

During the early days of new Executive Producer Ben Wadey’s stint in charge, viewers were stunned to see Bernie Taylor, played by Clair Norris, and Matthew James Morrison’s Felix Baker, leave in dramatic fashion.

On top of this Lacey Turner’s Stacey Slater exit scenes aired last month as the fan favourite character decided to move to Brazil to live with her brother Sean. The past few weeks have also seen Micah Balfour depart after just a year playing Junior Knight.

If that wasn’t enough exits, next week marks both Anna Knight and Freddie Slater’s, played by Molly Rainford and Bobby Brazier respectively, final week on the soap. However, there’s one actress who fans have been desperate to come back from their break.

Kellie Bright’s Linda Carter was last seen saying goodbye to Walford back in July as she headed for a cruise after selling the Queen Vic to Kat and Stacey. Deciding that she wanted to try something new in life, Linda has not been seen in several months in spite of her son Johnny Carter already arriving back in Walford from the trip.

Introduced in 2013, Linda instantly became a fan favourite character through her relationship with Danny Dyer’s Mick Carter. Over the years, Kellie has received critical praise for her portrayal of Linda’s frequent struggles with alcoholism, including an episode last year where she decided to go sober for good.

During Linda’s absence, Kellie has been focusing on her craft club and fronted a new Panorama special, titled Autism, School and Families. The special episode saw Kellie meeting families who are fighting to get the right education for their autistic children.

Drawing on her own experience as a mother to an autistic son, Kellie spent six months discussing what help could aid the parents and discussing with the children why they find school difficult.

It’s now been revealed by EastEnders advanced spoilers, that Linda is going to be back after almost half a year away on Monday, December 15. Arriving just before Christmas, Linda is teased to be in ‘for a huge shock’ when she gets to the grand opening of Peacock Palace.

With Linda adjusting to normality on Tuesday, December 16, she is set to open up to an unlikely person about what’s gone down since she’s been away.

In what’s likely the soap’s big Christmas set piece, the end of that week will see a fire bring huge consequences to the residents of Walford, but will Linda and her family escape from it unscathed?

Fans are eager for Linda to make her comeback, with Max on Albert Square for the first time since 2021. Max remains unaware that their affair several years ago resulted in the birth of Linda’s youngest child Annie Carter.