Patsy returns to Albert Square - Oct 29 2007
Patsy Palmer is heading back to Albert Square to reprise her role as Bianca in EastEnders.

The BBC has revealed that the 35-year-old actress is to begin filming in January, and will be on screens from around the end of March.

Palmer’s return comes eight years after she left the show in 1999, and 14 years after she first joined it in 1993.

Her reappearance seems to follow a change of heart because two years ago she declared she would never go back to the soap that made her famous.

She said then: "I wouldn’t go back to EastEnders, though. I just don’t really believe in it any more. The stories are so unbelievable, it’s ridiculous."

In her departure Bianca ditched Ricky, played by Sid Owen, and life in London for a new start in Manchester, but the couple did return for a special one-off episode in 2002.

Years on, Bianca is still having trouble with her love life and arrives back in the East End with her son by Ricky, called Liam, and a string of children by other men.

According to the BBC, she is "at rock bottom and struggling to survive" and returns because her grandmother, Pat Evans, still lives in the Square.

Palmer, who is originally from Bethnal Green in London, now says: "I’m really excited about rejoining the cast and working with old friends again. I can’t wait to explore what Bianca has been doing with her life."



Patsy reveals ’fleeing’ Prince - April 3 2007
Patsy Palmer has revealed she thought Prince Andrew ’fancied’ her at a charity bash.

The 34-year-old former EastEnder says the Prince was "charming" and "witty" at a reception at St James’s Palace, as part of their work for children’s charity NSPCC, the Daily Express reports.

"I was the only well-known face there. I’d imagined I could blend into the background and then slip out but instead the whole focus was on me. I had no idea why - it did cross my mind that the Prince might fancy me," she wrote in her new autobiography.

The mum of three adds that she eventually had to flee the Palace to meet her then future husband for one of their first dates.

"The Prince was charming, showing me round the Palace, offering me champagne and being very witty and amusing. We had a very pleasant couple of hours but I could barely concentrate.

"I knew Richie would be outside and when the time for our date approached, told Prince Andrew, ’Sorry but I’ve got to go’, and raced outside," she writes.

Perhaps the Prince has a thing for red-heads?

Patsy: I’m not proud of what I did - April 1 2007
Patsy Palmer says she’s amazed she’s not dead after years spent doing drugs and drinking herself into oblivion.

The former EastEnder, whose autobiography All Of Me reveals she often turned up onto the set of the soap either high or hungover, said: "Sometimes I think, ’How am I not dead?’, given the drink, drugs, lack of sleep, lack of proper nutrition and non-stop schedule that I inflicted on myself.

"I often got through the day on a Coke and couple of chocolate bars. I’m not proud of the way I behaved, or what I did to myself."

And the former party girl, who admits she used to pop ecstasy like sweets, along with booze, marijuana and cocaine, vomit over dance floors and then turn up to work, says she often had to cover her tracks.

EastEnders’ producer Jane Harris called her into her office a few times to ask her if she was all right, the actress recalls.