EastEnders has confirmed the return of Ricky Butcher following recent reports, with Sid Owen reprising his role for a stint.
Brother to Janine Butcher, and father to Liam and Tiffany, the character is heading back to Walford after 10 years away.
Ricky has left a few times in the past before returning, and now he is back again just months on from his ex Sam Mitchell making her own comeback.
Last time they were on the show together there were fireworks, while Sam's son Ricky, named after Sid's character, is also on the show.
EastEnders confirmed the news in a statement, teasing he and Janine could be up to no good together.
Speaking about his return, actor Sid spilled: "I’m delighted to back at EastEnders. I can’t wait to see what Ricky Butcher has been up to these past few years and how he’s going to react to seeing some familiar faces including old flames. I’m excited to see the drama unfold."
Chris Clenshaw, the soap's Executive Producer, added: "It is a great pleasure to welcome Sid back to the role of Ricky Butcher.
"Sid helped to create such an iconic character in Ricky who became so synonymous with the show and we couldn’t be more excited to have him back for a while.
"Ricky has so much history in the Square to explore and while a lot of time has passed since we last saw him, it’s fair to say wherever Ricky goes, he always finds himself slap-bang in the middle of mayhem."
Soap boss Chris also detailed the news to The Mirror and other press at a recent conference, where he teased he could be involved in Sam and Janine's ongoing storylines.
He said: "Ricky is back later this year. Sam has been on screen for quite some time now, and she's caused a lot of trouble and kind of got an agenda.
"She's a slightly different Sam, she's ruthless... we do explore that and find out a little more about why that is, when we meet someone from her past in Spain this autumn as well.
"Ricky is home. And you know, we've got Janine here. Janine is in a relationship with Mick, and we're building to something very climatic between them.
"Janine really has got her everything finally in Mick at The Vic. And what she and we all know is how strong the bond is between Mick and Linda. The love they have runs very, very deep. We know Janine and what she's capable of. So the paranoia sets in.
"I won't give away exactly how Ricky comes back yet as it plays into the Janine story."
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
