Natalie Cassidy as Sonia Fowler
Natalie Cassidy has said it's like "going home" after her return to Eastenders.
The 30-year-old actress was delighted when the show's producer, Dominic Treadwell-Collins, asked her to reprise her role as bossy Sonia Fowler - who she played from 1993 to 2007 and briefly reprised in 2010 and again in 2011 - this month.
She told OK! Magazine: "Dominic asked me to come back on board and I said I'd love to. I am back on screens in January, but I can't talk about the plotline.
"It's lovely to be back, it's like going home - I was there for 13 years and so more than half my life really."
Natalie admits she had never completely closed the door on 'EastEnders', which catapulted her into stardom, and always knew there may be a chance she would go back.
She explained: "I always said never say never about going back and I have always loved the show and my character Sonia.
"I thought I'd love to go back at some point but I was never begging to go back."
Natalie's return is just one of a number of cast changes set to occur in 'EastEnders', including Lacey Turner's reappearance as Stacey Branning, who famously fled Albert Square in 2010 after being exposed as the killer of Archie Moon (Larry Lamb).
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