Former EastEnders favourite Joe Swash has admitted he would like to return to the soap one day – even if his exit was the "worst outro ever."

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The Mickey Miller actor made the comments during a chat with former co-star Dean Gaffney on tonight's episode of I'm A Celebrity... South Africa, also claiming that he had never been invited back to Albert Square.

The conversation started when Carol Vorderman asked the two newest additions to camp if they'd starred on the soap together, with Joe explaining that they had but not for long.

“When I came back you were there," Dean said, before adding that he'd been back "about five times" since he first left the show and would be happy to do so again.

“I wouldn’t mind [going back] you know," Joe then revealed. "Purely because of the family. Because you know what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, when you’re doing it."

But he added: "They’ve never asked me to go back in again, not once, mate!”

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It was then that he described his exit as the "worst outro ever", lamenting the fact that he didn’t even leave at the end of the episode.

"You know you leave and you get the ‘duff duff'? Mine I went to Norwich to be a bellboy at a hotel and mid-scene just walked in The Vic went, ‘See you later’, turned back to Phil, come to me and I’d gone…" he said. "What? That was it? No duff duff. I was there 5 years and not one duff duff!”

Later, he explained in the Bush Telegraph: "People think I can phone up EastEnders and go, ‘I’m ready to come back now guys.’ They have not phoned me. Let me make this clear. EastEnders have never phoned me to get me back on the show.”

Swash starred as Mickey for five years between 2003 and 2008 – although he did actually return for two episodes in 2011 for the departure storyline of his character's brother Darren (Charlie G. Hawkins).

I’m a Celebrity South Africa airs at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX. Check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide, or visit our dedicated Entertainment hub for the latest news.

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Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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