EastEnders Michelle Ryan has ‘goosebumps’ over Zoe Slater’s Christmas as Jessie Wallace says ‘I love you’

The stars play Zoe and Kat Slater on the popular BBC soap

EastEnders Kat and Zoe Slater stars Jessie Wallace and Michelle Ryan(Image: BBC )

EastEnders star Michelle Ryan has said that she has ‘goosebumps’ over Zoe Slater’s Christmas storyline as her onscreen mum Jessie Wallace said ‘I love you’ to her.

Michelle made her return to the BBC soap earlier this year, marking the first time Zoe has appeared on the streets of Walford in 20 years. After reuniting with her mum Kat, who she thought was her sister growing up, Zoe was dramatically shot by Jack Branning and Ravi Gulati.

It was revealed in a flashback sequence following the shooting that Zoe gave birth to twins in 2006. Believing her daughter is dead, Zoe has been on a mission to track down her long-lost son for several months now.

Zoe’s task hasn’t gone to plan as she’s been tormented by a stalker for a number of months. Initially reluctant to believe her, Kat has been trying her best to find out who has been leaving Zoe a number of ominous messages, including a message at the Christmas lights event telling her to ‘die’.

To make matters worse, Zoe is unaware that her ex-fiancée Anthony Trueman, who has been handed a restraining order from his own wife, is seemingly obsessed with her. Prior to spending the night together, viewers learned that the doctor was keeping lots of pictures of his ex on his laptop.

In scenes aired on Monday (December 15), a number of secrets about Zoe’s past came to light. On top of Anthony Trueman learning that he’s likely the father of Zoe’s children, the mysterious Jasmine admitted to police that she’s her daughter.

With the Christmas episodes just over a week away, Michelle and Jessie sat down with the BBC to provide some light on where the festive storyline is going. Michelle teased: “These are the best scripts I’ve ever read and have been a part of on EastEnders. The two hander that we did is special. These for me are alongside that.”

Michelle Ryan as Zoe Slater on EastEnders(Image: BBC )

Jessie added: “They’re brilliant, it’s one thing after another, after another. Just when you think you’re getting over that then there’s something else. It’s like ‘hold on a minute, that just happened’.

“It’s chaotic and as an actor when there’s so much going on, ‘that’s happening over there, she’s over there’, there’s all these things you have to think about. It’s an explosion of stuff. I have never known a Christmas episode like thos, as long as I’ve been a part of it anyway.”

Having worked on their first Christmas episodes together in over 20 years, both Michelle and Jessie are ‘emotional’ at working together once again. Jessie noted that she ‘wanted her to come back for years’.

“Not that I didn’t want you to go off and do other stuff. Just working with you again is brilliant. It’s like when you see a member of your family you haven’t seen for years, we just picked up straight away. We work quite well together and I hope the audience loves it,” she said.

Michelle noted: “I don’t want to get emotional, but working with Jessie is amazing. To come back and feel so supported, you make it so easy. I feel like our relationship is not just one of the highlights of my career, but having someone in your corner and working so well with.

“We do work so well together and the episodes… I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it… I’m so grateful that all those years ago John Yorke cast us and put on this journey.

“You go away and do different things, there’s a huge cast and everyone is lovely and there’s such a great energy under Ben [Wadey, EastEnders Executive Producer]. There’s something unique and it feels like more than being work colleagues.”

Jessie added: “It’s like a foundation, we’ve got that history which you can build on, we’ve got layers. It is more than just being colleagues, I love her.”

When it comes to what she thought when she was handed the Christmas Day script, Michelle said it was ‘amazing’ and a ‘privilege to be part of them because they’re just brilliant scripts’.

“Zoe is still very much in a spiral, she feels like someone is out to get her. Kat’s very worried. You see Zoe seeming okay and then she struggles again, it does cause tension with Kat and Alfie. The family are trying to piece things back together and Kat is trying to do that, she does always defend Zoe,” she teased.