- Awards
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The examples I’m using here are from soaps but this could be for any type of show - sitcom, police procedural, live TV. I’m talking about when a character (or host) has left a show, only to return at a later date amid much fanfare, only for their comeback to fall flat.
The topic is mainly inspired by the recent coverage of Michelle Ryan’s impending departure from British soap EastEnders. Ryan originated the role of Zoe back in 2000, when she was introduced as the youngest daughter of the Slater clan, a family who’d come to dominate the show for most of that decade. Almost immediately, Zoe became central to one of the show’s most memorable storylines, when it was revealed that her “sister” Kat, was actually her mother, resulting in the famous “You ain’t my muvva. Yes I am!” cliffhanger. She followed that up by becoming embroiled in the Dirty Den murder plot, that marked the show’s 20th anniversary.
Ryan left the show in 2005 for pastures new (including a short stint as NBC’s rebooted Bionic Woman) but her onscreen family remained on the show in some capacity since, leading to various chatter over the years about bringing her character back. That chatter was finally realised last year, when a new producer convinced Ryan to rejoin the show after twenty years away. Her much heralded permanent return in September 2025, saw her thrown headlong into a series of dramatic plots including the reveal that she’d secretly given birth to twins in the mid-00’s, her subsequent search and reunion with them, a murder mystery involving the twins’ father and a reunion with her Dirty Den cover up co-conspirators, Chrissie Watts and Sam Mitchell.
And then there was nothing. By early 2026, Zoe was offscreen more than she was on. Scenes involving the twins, that were presumably written for Zoe, were seemingly given over to Kat. Speculation about behind the scenes issues were reported in the newspapers. Then came the announcement that Zoe would be written out of the show, with recently filmed funeral scenes presumably confirming that she will be killed off. What was supposed to be a ratings grabbing return of the prodigal daughter of one of the show’s leading ladies, fell apart within a matter of months. After returning amid much fanfare, producers are now hurriedly writing her out for good.
Another notable comeback disaster was the return of Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) to save Coronation Street from the ratings doldrums in 2002. Bet is one of the show’s most recognisable characters, having reigned supreme behind the bar of the Rovers between 1970 and 1995. When the show was struggling in the ratings against EastEnders in the early 00’s, Goodyear was asked to return to the show on a permanent basis (she’d done a brief guest stint on a spinoff in 1999). With her post-Corrie career not shaping up as well as she’d hoped and the offer of a hefty paycheck, Goodyear obliged. Then came the press photo calls, the newspaper interviews and the special onscreen promos to mark the return of the Queen of the Rovers.
The big issue was, in the intervening years since Goodyear’s 1995 departure, the style of production had changed dramatically. Episodes had increased from three a week to five, storylines were faster paced, rehearsal time had been slashed and the cast had doubled in size. Goodyear admitted that she couldn’t hack the pace, not knowing “what page she was on, what day it was or where she was supposed to be looking”. After only seventeen days into her grand return, she went out sick. Scripts were hastily rewritten, initially in a rather clunky fashion, with Bet being “upstairs lying down” for an episode or two, before explaining that she’d done a moonlight flit after a court case went pear shaped. Veteran actress Maureen Lipman was drafted in as guest character Lillian Spencer, to fill the gaps in the script where Bet was supposed to be. Then the sick leave became permanent. After the media blitz, the six figure pay deal and the master plan to reinstate Bet behind the bar of the Rovers and save the show, she lasted only a fortnight onscreen.
The topic is mainly inspired by the recent coverage of Michelle Ryan’s impending departure from British soap EastEnders. Ryan originated the role of Zoe back in 2000, when she was introduced as the youngest daughter of the Slater clan, a family who’d come to dominate the show for most of that decade. Almost immediately, Zoe became central to one of the show’s most memorable storylines, when it was revealed that her “sister” Kat, was actually her mother, resulting in the famous “You ain’t my muvva. Yes I am!” cliffhanger. She followed that up by becoming embroiled in the Dirty Den murder plot, that marked the show’s 20th anniversary.
Ryan left the show in 2005 for pastures new (including a short stint as NBC’s rebooted Bionic Woman) but her onscreen family remained on the show in some capacity since, leading to various chatter over the years about bringing her character back. That chatter was finally realised last year, when a new producer convinced Ryan to rejoin the show after twenty years away. Her much heralded permanent return in September 2025, saw her thrown headlong into a series of dramatic plots including the reveal that she’d secretly given birth to twins in the mid-00’s, her subsequent search and reunion with them, a murder mystery involving the twins’ father and a reunion with her Dirty Den cover up co-conspirators, Chrissie Watts and Sam Mitchell.
And then there was nothing. By early 2026, Zoe was offscreen more than she was on. Scenes involving the twins, that were presumably written for Zoe, were seemingly given over to Kat. Speculation about behind the scenes issues were reported in the newspapers. Then came the announcement that Zoe would be written out of the show, with recently filmed funeral scenes presumably confirming that she will be killed off. What was supposed to be a ratings grabbing return of the prodigal daughter of one of the show’s leading ladies, fell apart within a matter of months. After returning amid much fanfare, producers are now hurriedly writing her out for good.
Another notable comeback disaster was the return of Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) to save Coronation Street from the ratings doldrums in 2002. Bet is one of the show’s most recognisable characters, having reigned supreme behind the bar of the Rovers between 1970 and 1995. When the show was struggling in the ratings against EastEnders in the early 00’s, Goodyear was asked to return to the show on a permanent basis (she’d done a brief guest stint on a spinoff in 1999). With her post-Corrie career not shaping up as well as she’d hoped and the offer of a hefty paycheck, Goodyear obliged. Then came the press photo calls, the newspaper interviews and the special onscreen promos to mark the return of the Queen of the Rovers.
The big issue was, in the intervening years since Goodyear’s 1995 departure, the style of production had changed dramatically. Episodes had increased from three a week to five, storylines were faster paced, rehearsal time had been slashed and the cast had doubled in size. Goodyear admitted that she couldn’t hack the pace, not knowing “what page she was on, what day it was or where she was supposed to be looking”. After only seventeen days into her grand return, she went out sick. Scripts were hastily rewritten, initially in a rather clunky fashion, with Bet being “upstairs lying down” for an episode or two, before explaining that she’d done a moonlight flit after a court case went pear shaped. Veteran actress Maureen Lipman was drafted in as guest character Lillian Spencer, to fill the gaps in the script where Bet was supposed to be. Then the sick leave became permanent. After the media blitz, the six figure pay deal and the master plan to reinstate Bet behind the bar of the Rovers and save the show, she lasted only a fortnight onscreen.
