Leah Bracknell could be set to make a return to ‘Emmerdale’.
The 53-year-old actress – who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2016 – has made no secret of the fact she’d love to reprise her role as Zoe Tate in the long-running soap, and it looks like an opportunity for her alter ego to make a sensational return is about to arise as her character’s nephew Joseph has just made his own comeback.
A source told The Sun Online: "Zoe is definitely alive and well out in the world but isn’t set for a comeback just yet."
And the show’s boss Iain Macleod has added fuel to the fire that a return for Zoe is on the cards as he has teased that there is "scope" for the reintroduction of old characters now that Joseph – played by Ned Porteous – is back in his stomping ground.
He said: "Potentially there is scope to introduce other characters around [Tom and Graham] further down the line."
Leah played the role of Zoe from 1989 until 2005 when her alter ego blew up Home Farm after she was forced to sell her lavish 11-bedroom mansion to the King family.
During her time on the show, Leah was involved in some major storylines – including her character coming out as gay and a battle with the mental health illness schizophrenia.
Meanwhile, the actress recently admitted that people haven’t been as keen to employ her since she revealed that she was battling cancer last year.
She said: No one is employing me since I was diagnosed, the phone hasn’t been ringing."
Despite her devastating circumstances, Leah is refusing to let the illness get her down.
She said: "I wake up every day excited. I didn’t do that before the cancer.
"I’m just really glad to be here. I wasn’t expected to live that long, so I am just going to carry on, gloriously living, no matter what the doctors are saying.
"I could have died but I was still alive – that was a gift. I had to time to tell my family how much I love them and decide how I wanted to live."
Leah Bracknell set to return to Emmerdale
