Soap stars who returned from dead – slamming plot, comeback snub and real-life death

There’s nothing like a shocking twist to a soap storyline to really get people talking.

Be it an explosion of some kind, a sordid affair or two or even a good old-fashioned whodunit, producers have thrown a whole bunch at the British public to keep them tuned in over the years.

Perhaps the bravest decisions involve killing off beloved characters.

READ MORE: EastEnders spoilers: Ben prison horror and unexpected reunion

Some are done to try and get a quick ratings boost, while others are telegraphed if a lot of thought has been put into a story.

But there are a few occasions where we’ve seen characters be brought back into soaps – even after we saw them dead and buried!

And with Phil Mitchell appearing to have breathed his last breath this week, it got us looking back at some of our favourite returns over the years.

Den Watts – EastEnders

Starting with one of the most iconic lines in the history of soaps – Dirty Den’s “Hello, princess”

Those words sent shockwaves around the nation in 2003 when Leslie Grantham returned to our screens as famous Eastenders bad boy Den Watts, who had been killed 14 years earlier – or so we thought.

Originally, we saw what we believed was Den to have been killed by a gang member, shot and drowned in the canal in 1989 after a splash was heard.

But crucially, we never saw a body and over a decade later, Den returned and gave his daughter Sharon a huge shock with the iconic line: “Hello, princess.”

He was later murdered by ex-wife Chrissie Watts – who tried to frame Sam Mitchell in a long-running whodunnit.

Sadly, Leslie Grantham never went back to the soap as he died aged 71 from lung cancer, receiving a special tribute at the end of one of the BBC episodes.

Mercedes McQueen – Hollyoaks

The McQueen family have had a long list of enemies during their chaotic time in Hollyoaks, so it’s no surprise that a few have been killed off in the past.

The most notable saw hotshot Mercedes, played by Jennifer Metcalfe, being stabbed by gangsters in November 2014.

Viewers watched in horror as Grace Black stabbed her repeatedly and dragged her lifeless corpse out of the house.

However it turns out that the brunette beauty had been living it up in a luxury villa on the French Riviera since she vanished from her home.

It was all part of a revenge storyline, with Mercedes and her family very much still the queens of Chester.

Vera Duckworth – Coronation Street

Not all returns are permanent and sometimes, it’s better that way – as was the case when our Vera made her way back to screens in Coronation Street.

Vera and husband Jack Duckworth were inseparably over their time on the street, but when actress Liz Dawn opted to leave the soap after 34 years, Jack was left heartbroken when finding Vera having died in her sleep in 2008.

Two years on and the ITV soap ran a storyline which saw Jack diagnosed with incurable cancer, which led to his passing in November of 2010 – but not before Vera’s ghost appeared to chide him about his outfit before the pair shared a touching dance.

Pat Butcher – Eastenders

Everyone loves a good old fashioned soap grudge, and we head back to Albert Square for a famous one – Peggy Mitchell and Pat Butcher.

After a 25-year stint in the BBC soap, Pat died on New Year’s Day 2012 after reconciling with her estranged children, devastating many viewers.

When her best friend and best enemy Peggy (played by the late Barbara Windsor) returned to Eastenders in May of 2016 with terminal brain cancer.

During an emotional episode, Peggy hallucinated she was seeing a wisp of cigarette smoke on her stairs as she prepared to take her own life.

It could only belong to one person, and there sat Pat.

Peggy, with the look of a lost child, asked: “My dear friend. You’ll never leave me will you?”

Pat assured: “No sweetheart, not for one single second.”

Harold Bishop – Neighbours

It takes a special kind of character to manage to come back from the dead twice.

But that’s exactly how Harold Bishop operates.

Harold is up there as one of the most well-known Neighbours characters around thanks to his long stints on Ramsay Street, which has seen him play a key role in huge stories.

Twice, he’s come back from presumed death. The first came in 1991 after Neighbours producers decided a revamp was needed to turn around a ratings plunge. While out walking with his wife Madge by the coast, Harold was swept out to sea – with Madge only able to find his iconic glasses.

Fast forward five years and Harold returned, suffering from amnesia and calling himself Ted. Having eventually recovered, actor Ian Smith dramatically quit the soap in 2008 – and viewers saw Harold’s heart stop while in hospital, having refused treatment for prostate cancer and suffered a heart attack.

But doctor Karl Kennedy went against Harold’s wishes to resuscitate him, resurrecting ‘The Bish’ for a second time.

Harold is coming back to the soap once again ahead of its final episodes on July 29, and teasers for the special moment have hinted it is set to be a tear jerker.

Kim Tate – Emmerdale

What was that we said about characters dying twice? Enter Kim Tate, Emmerdale’s biggest b**ch of all time.

The Home Farm matriarch was never too far from trouble during her original run in the Dales, with affairs, fires, slaps and, of course, plenty of drama.

Having married her husband (and former boss) Frank Tate, things were looking rosy for Kim until 1996, where the glamour had clearly worn off.

Viewers were hooked as Kim’s car was found in the village with what looked like the blonde behind the wheel in February, with Frank identifying the body as his wife.

But three months later, he got the shock of his life – literally – when Kim walked back in the door, explaining how she’d hired a prostitute in her stead to stage the accident. Frank’s heart couldn’t cope with the shock, with Kim watching him die, before reapplying her make-up.

After nearly two decades away from Emmerdale, Kim returned in 2018 and (unsurprisingly) made a few enemies. Her personality drove people so mad that someone attempted to poison her in 2021.

In her typical Tate way, she pulled off a blinder to figure out who – hiring actors to play the parts of the police, doctor and undertakers to arrive at Home Farm and even being zipped up in a bodybag, shocking her son Jamie into confessing the truth.

Pat Phelan – Coronation Street

Scheming builder-turned part-time murderer Pat Phelan is absolutely in the conversation for Coronation Street’s biggest bad boy, after he terrorised the Street for years.

It all came to a head in 2018 though, when his partner Eileen Grimshaw found out about his crimes from pal Tim Metcalfe, leading to an eerie confrontation by the sea between the two which saw Phelan end up clinging for his life from a rope in a harbour – until Eileen stomped on his hand, meaning he plunged into the murky water below.

However, to the shock of millions, Phelan turned up alive after the incident, being tended to by a little Irish woman after using a false intensity to cross the Irish Sea.

It all led to a tense week on the cobbles – with ITV airing a number of post-watershed episodes which saw Phelan be stabbed by ex Anna Windass after he shot Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh).

Nasty Nick Cotton – Eastenders

‘Nasty’ Nick Cotton left his mum Dot absolutely devastated when he was announced dead in 2014.

It was claimed he’d died from a drug overdose and Dot, who he had always terrorised, had conflicting feelings.

But Nick came back that very same year in a bid to extort money from his son Charlie, and he also cut the brakes on Ronnie Mitchell’s car, leading to her almost dying in a car crash while driving to hospital in labour.

Long-suffering Dot hid Nick in an unused house and even helped get him heroin, but they fell out when Nick showed zero compassion for Ronnie, who was in a coma.

Later, Dot found Nick unconscious from a drug overdose – for real this time.

He briefly regained consciousness and admitted to Dot that he murdered Reg Cox back in 1985, and his mother held him as he died, refusing to call for medical assistance after decades of being abused by him.

Dot confessed to killing Nick by letting him die, and she served four months in jail for his manslaughter.

Since his exit, John hasn’t held back on his thoughts about the soap, telling The Mirror: “There’s too many episodes. People do have lives to lead. I don’t know how people keep up with it.

“There are other things in life, there’s a lot more. I’d rather be exploring the planet I think than watching a soap opera.

“When I last went back I said to someone on the production team, ‘How many characters are in EastEnders at the moment?’ And they said there were over 50.

“If you go back to the original cast there were no more than 20 people in it.”

““I think there’s too many characters, when you have fewer characters you get deeper into the story.

Darryl Braxton – Home and Away

The Braxton brothers caused havoc for half a decade in Summer Bay, with the head of the family Darryl ‘Brax’ Braxton usually the most level-headed of the quartet.

Having survived a stabbing attempt, a shootout and many dangerous situations, it seemed that Brax had finally met his match after being run off the road by a former enemy of his when being transferred between prisons.

But unbeknownst to his partner Ricky Sharpe and brothers, he had survived – but chose to leave the Bay after seeing how his family had moved on without him.

Brax would return just under a year later to stun viewers, exiting the soap permanently the following summer with Ricky and his son in tow.

The actor has since said he will never go back to the soap, saying: “It was an awesome, fun job, with really good people, but no. It’s one of those things – it’s nice to enjoy while you’re doing it, and if you want to stick around, stick around or move on.

“I think where the storyline was left was about spot-on for me. I think it finished in a way that the audience really liked. It came to its best conclusion.”

Bobby Ewing – Dallas

We couldn’t have an article about famous soap returns without mentioning the biggest of them all.

The ninth season of US soap Dallas saw the Ewing family mourn the loss of Bobby after being run down by his sister-in-law Katherine.

It devastated fans – but the beginning of the tenth season saw Bobby’s widow Pam wake up to the noise of someone in a shower.

In what would become known as the ‘Dream Scene’, Bobby turned around and told his wife that the previous year had been a lengthy dream of hers.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk