EastEnders' Shane Richie hints at Alfie and Linda romance

He said: "Alfie's no longer in The Vic now, it's interesting, that whole relationship between Alfie and Linda kind of took us by surprise – the audience reaction was real positive. And though we never played it, there was never ever talk with the producers or writers that there was going to be a relationship."

He continued: "The general public, the fans of the show, kind of went 'Yeah, there's something there' so maybe, just maybe, something may happen this year, maybe next year. But there's talk of maybe Alfie and Linda."

The pair have grown close as friends over the past few months, leading fans of the long-running soap to speculate as to whether more could be on the cards for Alfie and Linda. They've seemingly bonded over both of their losses: Alfie with Kat moving on and Linda with the shocking loss of Mick Carter.

Linda's mother Elaine (Harriet Thorpe) has returned to the soap as the Queen Vic's new landlord. Elaine has gotten off on the wrong foot with Alfie, but does Elaine want Alfie gone for another reason?

Richie's comments come just weeks after Bright seemed to quash rumours of an onscreen romance, saying: "I think it is really strong and important to see a platonic relationship between a man and a woman."

So, will EastEnders give the fans what they want? Well, we'll have to wait and see, as Richie also said that there continues to be speculation on the future of Alfie and Kat. Although their marriage fell apart a while ago, what would EastEnders be without the 'will they, won't they' of Kat and Alfie.

Richie told RadioTimes.com: "There's always talk of Kat and Alfie. We're like the [Richard] Burton and [Elizabeth] Taylor of the soaps, aren't we? But at the moment, I'm really enjoying Alfie being single.

"There's a bromance with Alfie and Freddie; he's become like what Spencer [Moon, played by Christopher Parker] was back in the day – so I'm enjoying playing that at the moment."

Additional reporting by Helen Daly.

Read more:

• Is Rose Knight actually Cindy Beale? EastEnders fans have strong theory
• EastEnders boss wants to keep Linda Carter as "heart of the Square"
• EastEnders' Colin Salmon on personal reason he took George Knight role
• EastEnders' Kellie Bright fears "everlasting" Linda and Sharon feud
• EastEnders spoilers: Jo Cotton returns to taunt Rocky with secret
• EastEnders' Shane Richie hopes for Kat and Alfie reunion

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