Ronnie and Roxy in EastEnders(Image: BBC/Steven Peskett)
EastEnders fans are pretty sure a recent storyline involving Amy Mitchell is pointing towards a huge return for two fan favourites. Earlier this week, Amy (Ellie Dadd) was seen looking through a photo album of her mum, Roxy (Rita Simon), and aunt, Ronnie, (Samantha Womack), leading many to wonder if the two will return soon… despite dying a decade ago.
Fans first started suggesting Roxy and Ronnie might return after the New Year’s Day flashforward showed Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) looking heartbroken. As the episode took place on 1 January 2027, the 10th anniversary of not just his wedding to Ronnie, but of her and her sister’s death, fans guessed he might reminiscing about his lost love, and that she might make a reappearance.
Amy looked at photos of her mum and aunt(Image: BBC)
Now, following Monday’s scene with Roxy’s daughter Amy looking back through photos of her mum and aunt, fans are even more convinced. One said the timing of the scene, which came as another character Bea Pollard (Ronni Ancona) faked her death, was suspicious: “Today’s episode is revolving around Bea faking her death and Amy is suddenly looking at photos of Ronnie and Roxy. Oh they loom.”
Another added that both Rita and Samantha had been seen a lot together recently, which could mean they are about to work together again. “And the actresses have been posting a lot of each other recently,” they wrote.
A third added that they would “give anything” for Ronnie and Roxy to return, while a fourth said: “10 years since their deaths this coming NYD, it would only be right!”
Ronnie and Roxy were last on the show on 1 January 2017. On that day, Ronnie married Jack, widely considered to be the love of her life, but then headed to the hotel’s pool with her sister.
Roxy jumped in the pool, but passed out. Desperate to save her sister, Ronnie jumped in and tried to get her out, but got caught up in her dress and her veil. Both of them drowned.
Roxy and Ronnie were last seen in 2017(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes)
The decision to kill off Ronnie and Roxy has been decried by many fans as the “worst” decision EastEnders have made. Summarising how many fans feel, one fan wrote online: “If I had a time machine, I’d make sure R&R (plus Pat and Tiffany) were never killed off.”
Some have pointed out that it would be “ridiculous” to bring them back, as we saw the bodies. But, others have said “this would be the only plot hole I wouldn’t care about”
Various characters have come back from the dead before, including some who are still on the Square. Kathy Beale was said to have died in a car crash in 2006 but turned up again in 2015.
Grant Mitchell, who recently appeared on the show, was thought to have died after his brother Phil shot a gun, causing their car to go into the river, but cropped up in Rio de Janeiro with his daughter Courtney.
Cindy Beale also returned from the dead and is still on the Square. She was thought to have died after going to prison, but it turned out she’d been living another life as ‘Rose Knight’.
Famously, though Den Watts eventually met his end at the hands of his wife Chrissie, he was first thought dead after he was shot and fell into the canal in 1989. 14 years later, he returned to the Vic.
