Dean Gaffney claims he could return to the soap in a "couple of years".
Dean Gaffney
The 42-year-old actor was last seen on the BBC One soap in September 2019 and he says the producers have left the door open for his character, Robbie Jackson, to return to Albert Square.
Speaking on Paul Danan's 'The Morning After' podcast, Dean said: "When I left last June, they said, 'Come back to us in a couple of years.'
"The door is open so let's hope they are true to their word and it happens."
Dean has played Robbie on and off since 1993 and admits he appreciated his return to the show in 2017 more because he was older.
He said: "It was nice to be back. It shows you're a character that has legacy there.
"When I was asked back in 2017, it was nice. I appreciate it more, 100 per cent. I was young when I joined the show and now I'm in my 40s."
Dean - who recently appeared on 'Celebs Go Dating' - admitted he wanted Robbie to have bigger storylines in the show as the character was often featured in comedy plots.
He explained: "I wished I had bigger storylines. On 'EastEnders' you probably have three brackets, you have your top bracket, which is someone like Danny Dyer who is in the pub every episode, whoever is in the Vic is constantly seen.
"Then you have the middle of the road characters that you dive into. I felt my character was always there.
"It's nice, you're still part of the show, you can't have 52 weeks of drama in a soap you need the characters that bring a bit of light-hearted relief."
Dean also opened up on the death of the Jackson family dog Wellard, which aired in 2008, praising how it was sensitively handed by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, who was the producer at the time.
He said: "There was a time when the dog was more famous than any actor on the show. It was an iconic time. For years they were like, we can't get rid of this dog. "But when the new producer came in, which was Dominic at the time, he ended up getting the dog killed off because he was like, 'This dog would be, like, 300 in dog years now.'
"I thought the demise of the dog was done very sensitively to be fair, hats off to EastEnders."
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