Bonnie Langford on potential EastEnders return: 'Carmel still has a grandson there'

After a fair few feuds and romances, Carmel departed Walford in 2018 after losing her son Shakil to knife crime, moving to Dubai.

Since then, Carmel’s eldest son Kush was murdered by serial killer Gray Atkins (portrayed by Toby-Alexander Smith) in 2021. Carmel did not return for a funeral and Kush’s remains were sent to Dubai.

Despite the tragedy that befell the character, could Langford ever see herself reprising the role, particularly with the soap celebrating its 40th anniversary next year?

When asked about the prospect of a Carmel comeback, Langford told RadioTimes.com: "She's apparently sunning herself in Dubai or she was in a taxi on the way there. She took a long time and got rather wet.

"You know, in light of Doctor Who, you just cannot predict anything. Because if someone had said to me 37 years ago, you would be playing this character again, in a different form but, you know, that will be essentially her in 37 years, I would have laughed and gone, 'Are you kidding me? No.'

"So, anything can happen. Anything can happen, and this is the whole beauty of storytelling. You can tell whatever story you like, and I would be delighted to, and I've got loads of friends there now as well.

"I'd love to go and see… I would never put a kibosh on anything, because I think anything is possible. It's important, sometimes people want to know what happened - what happened next?

"So, you never know. Carmel has got a grandson, Arthur, still there, and has a lot of history and a lot of friends, but you just don't know, so you never say never!"

The actress can be seen reprising her classic Doctor Who role as Mel Bush in the upcoming two-part finale, beginning with this Saturday's instalment The Legend of Ruby Sunday, which she described to us as "camp as hell!".

Meanwhile, Langford's debut as Carmel will arrive on BBC iPlayer later this month, when the EastEnders 2015 box set arrives on the streaming service on 25th June 2024.

Doctor Who continues Saturdays on BBC One and iPlayer.

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