Annette Badland, who played Aunt Babe on the hit BBC One show, has revealed her desire to reprise her role.
The 68-year-old actress left EastEnders in February 2017 following three years on the programme.
Her on-screen persona had a bit of a bad reputation and she nearly drew a wedge between Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) and Shirley (Linda Henry).
But her exit was unexpected and rather abrupt, with Annette describing her final scene as “an ugly end”.
The Carter’s sent Babe packing when they discovered she left Sylvie by the canal in the pouring rain.
On top of that, Shirley caught her sister stealing from the safe, leading to her being thrown out of the pub by Mick.
While out in the rain Babe ranted at Mick that “it ain’t over”, before he slammed the door on her.
“I curse you. I curse the lot of you. I hope you lose everything and your precious pub. I curse you,” she growled in the closing scene.
Discussing her character’s exit, Annette said the way she was written out of the soap was “heartbreaking”.
“I’d been brought in by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, who said it would be Dickensian and fun, but the new executive, Sean O’Connor, wasn’t as interested in Babe,” she told Radio Times.
“Sean said it was ‘au revoir’ and not ‘goodbye’ but he didn’t want Babe in the pub or on the Square. I’d been there about three years and it was my life. It was heartbreaking, really.”
She continued: “They gave me such an ugly end.”
Although she is displeased with how she left the soap, Annette would return to the BBC series if the storyline was right.
“I’d love to go back for a specific story,” she added.
Teasing a second round with Mick, she went on to say: “Hopefully one day Mick will need Babe and want her back.”
Babe’s comeback is possible as newly appointed producer Kate Oates recently revealed her plans to bring back old characters.
“We’ve got some great returnees planned. You may know that Lola is coming back so I’m really looking forward to seeing her in the Square,” she divulged back in January.
“We’ve got a couple more secret returnees coming. One is coming back in Spring that I’m really excited about.”
She added: “It’s going to be a fairly short stint but I think it’s going to have a really huge impact so they’re part of my big plans for 2019.
EastEnders continues Thursday on BBC One at 7.30pm.