AN EASTENDERS icon has made a shock return to Walford today – 13 years after her heartbreaking death.
The BBC soap welcomed back the legendary character ahead of a special episodes devoted to Nigel Bates’ dementia battle.
In today’s episode Nigel was seen struggling to remember where he was and he was seen wandering the Square trying to find a taxi.
But as he wandered into the Queen Vic, Nigel suddenly found himself surrounded by 90s decor and characters – including the icon herself.
“What do you have to do to get a taxi in this place?” Nigel moaned.
“And a very Merry Christmas to you and all sweetheart,” Pat Butcher replied.
Actress Pam St Clement has reprised her role for the special episode despite Pat dying of cancer back in 2012.
Speaking about her shock return, actress Pam said: “I think I was a bit bewildered, and a bit bowled over.”
“Coming back to jump into those clothes and make-up again was strangely difficult,” she added.
“I thought it was going to be much easier, but I think I’ve probably been through the point in my life, having played her, where I had divested myself of her. Her accoutrement, her clothes, her make-up and everything else, and I thought I had, but the strange thing is that the public don’t because it’s so fresh.
“That’s probably because there are a lot of repeats that go on, on television, like EastEnders classics and things like that.”
Pam revealed she is still recognised today – even by people who wouldn’t have seen her on the soap in its heyday.
She added: “There are youngsters that come up, and you think ‘thank you very much’ but how do you know me? You’re too young! ‘Oh no, we watch it on the television’ and indeed they do, and it’s nice to have that following.”
But she did admit to struggling to get back into the character who she last played as a ghost back in 2016 for Peggy Mitchell’s exit.
“I have to say, to get into Pat’s character, is obviously much harder today when we’ve been filming, but I would say that the key to the whole ensemble must be the earrings,” she said.
Pam added: “I loved seeing the people that I worked with, and maybe I’ve worked with since. I never thought that series television would ever harbour such closeness.
“I mean the next thing in the row after that is theatre, where you get close because you are with people quite a lot. Very often you’re out of your own area when you’re doing such a thing as a theatre show, and I just think it’s amazing to have a group of people who get together.
“It’s very, very structured. Extraordinarily structured, and it works, and it works because everybody is rowing in the same direction.”
