Exclusive: Walford exec teases about Sam's return

EastEnders executive producer Diederick Santer has revealed more information about the return of Sam Mitchell to the show.

Last month, it was announced that Danniella Westbook is to return to the BBC soap as original Mitchell sister Sam, as opposed to Kim Medcalf, the last actress to play her.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with DS, Santer said of Sam's comeback: "What makes Sam interesting for me is that she's Ricky's first love and first wife. As Bianca and Ricky spend more time together and have more shared experiences around Tiffany and Whitney, the inevitability of them at some point coming together increases. What's stopping them? Well, it's Sam.

"Sam and Ricky had a good thing going all those years ago. All Ricky ever gets off Bianca is indifference, whereas Sam - and who knows quite why - is less than indifferent towards him and it makes a nice change…"

He continued: "And the other thing is, who's the original Mitchell sister? You have these two pretenders in there with Ronnie and Roxy, but Sam is Peggy's little girl, her princess. Sam's Grant and Phil's sister, not these two upstarts. Also, Minty was obsessed with Sam, don't forget."

He teased: "The biggest thing we've got to get over, though, is the fact she's on the run in Brazil. We'll definitely get around that one - we've got it all worked out…"

> Click here to read our full interview with Diederick Santer