EastEnders icon rules out return – seven years after horrifying exit
But she's still doing something soap related.
EastEnders icon Tamzin Outhwaite won’t return to the soap as Mel Owen after her horrifying exit seven years ago. Although plenty of times you’ll hear that a soap character has died only for them to pop back however many years down the line and reveal that they faked the whole thing, the actor has ruled out a comeback.
According to Outhwaite, her character Mel Owen’s exit was probably too definitive to play the ‘not dead after all’ card.
Appearing on Lorraine this week, the star was asked the question every soap star who was killed off gets asked, and she said: “I don’t think Mel can come back. We saw the body in the bag and the zip go over her face so I don’t think that’s a possibility.”
But of course, Lorraine mentioned another classic soap trope: playing the previously unmentioned evil twin!
“I actually have thought about her having an evil twin”, Outhwaite joked. “Or even just a nicer twin, or a mentally stable twin would be good!”
Back when Mel’s death aired, we praised the BBC One soap for successfully keeping it under wraps, not betraying Sharon Watts’ character for shock value, and for incorporating some Final Destination vibes.
But while she left EastEnders seven years ago, the actor isn’t too far away from the world of soap.
Outhwaite is starring in a production of Abigail’s Party, on tour and soon coming the West End, with Hollyoaks actor Omar Malik (who played Shaq Quresh from 2021 to early 2023) joining her in the cast.
“It’s excruciating but wonderful”, she said of the play, calling her character “grotesque” and “despicable”, someone who treats other people like “picking the legs off a spider… with a smile on her face and all under the guise of manners”.
“I think it’s a ‘state of the nation’ play, and he’s such a brilliant writer, Mike Leigh”, she added.
