EastEnders legend Rita Simons reacts to Ronnie and Roxy resurrection at Christmas conspiracy theories

Could Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell be returning to EastEnders this Christmas?

Let's face it - probably not. New Year's Day will mark the ten year anniversary of the legendary characters' deaths, and yet soap fans are insistent that they could return one day.

For weeks, theories have been circulating on social media that actresses Samantha Womack and Rita Simons have reprised their roles and their apparent demises will be rewritten. Viewers are convinced that the return of Sean Slater (Rob Kazinsky) - who has mentioned Roxy on numerous occasions - and the absence of Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) are two huge clues to support a comeback.

Over on TikTok, one user even suggested that Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) purposely missed out the line "A little bit of Rita's all I need" when singing Lou Bega's song Mambo No. 5 in an episode that was broadcast in September.

Now we know that EastEnders producers love to drop a subtle clue or two from time to time, and they're certainly not opposed to bringing back characters from the dead. First there was Dirty Den, then Kathy Beale, and most recently her former daughter-in-law Cindy.

It's no surprise that these suppositions have now reached the actresses, who are frequently flooded with messages asking when we'll see them back in Albert Square.

In fact, it's got to a point where Simons's own social media algorithms are showing the conspiracies to her.

Speaking on the No Parental Guidance podcast, presenter Louise Boyce joked: "Your public are writing to Parliament to get you back on EastEnders."

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Simons laughed back, admitting: "People always send me these crazy TikTok fan accounts and like, "This is how Ronnie and Roxy could come back".

"So my algorithm has started showing me all this EastEnders conspiracy stuff."

She also revealed that someone she knew personally suggested she'd be unavailable this Christmas because of filming commitments. While this isn't strictly true, she is appearing in pantomime as the Fairy Godmother in a production of Cinderella at Sheffield's Lyceum Theatre.

When asked whether she knew how bosses would facilitate such a return from the dead, Simons responded with a rather cryptic comment - suggesting that it has been discussed.

"There's a whole story... but I can't tell you that," she said. "Because if we were to ever come back... I can't."

Consider us intrigued!

Read more:

• EastEnders icon Rob Kazinsky teases "never-seen-before" storyline for his character Sean Slater with plot that "treads new ground"
• EastEnders legend Jo Joyner returns to Walford set for Branning 'family reunion' - 8 years after last Tanya appearance
• EastEnders star teases "fire and carnage" when Penny Branning's baby paternity secret is revealed
• EastEnders favourite Balvinder Sopal teases Ash return is "grenade" to the Panesar family unit this autumn

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Authors

Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.