CHARLIE BROOKS RETURNS TO EASTENDERS AS JANINE BUTCHER

Charlie Brooks has returned to EastEnders as Janine Butcher, appearing on the BBC soap for the first time in four years. The episode aired on Thursday, 5 November, more than two decades after Janine's debut in 1999. Brooks has played the character across four separate stints, and was shown in the comeback scene in an office meeting with an unidentified man. Brooks told the BBC: "I always love coming back to Janine." She said the role is "an exciting character to play" and that working with Kellie Bright again "has been amazing".

Janine was last seen on the soap in 2022, when she was jailed for five years for perverting the course of justice. She had tricked Mick Carter, played by Danny Dyer, into believing his wife Linda Carter had been lost at sea, after which Mick was believed to have died. Brooks said Janine remains true to form, telling the BBC: "As always, it's about survival for her." Brooks has also appeared in The Bill, Wired and Bleak House, and won the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special in 2011.

Janine's return comes as EastEnders builds towards an exit storyline for Linda Carter, played by Kellie Bright, who has been portrayed as newly sober after years of alcoholism. In the same episode, Linda's partner Max Branning told his daughter he was tired of living in Mick's shadow and vowed to make Linda "forget that Mick ever existed." The Carter family were also shown stunned after seeing Linda's mother, Elaine, kissing Ian Beale during a fireworks display. Brooks was crowned winner of the twelfth series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2012.