Derek Martin is to return to ‘EastEnders’ next year.
The 81-year-old actor will reprise his role as former cab driver Charlie Slater later this year after being axed from the BBC One soap in 2011, and he’s confessed he’s looking forward to reuniting with his "family".
He told the Daily Star newspaper: "In December and January, I am going back to make a couple of episodes. I don’t know what the storyline is but I am booked.
"Charlie is living with one of his daughters in Manchester and I think I have gone on holiday somewhere, Lanzarote or something.
"I was in full-time between 2000 to 2011 and it becomes like a family. When you leave or get written out it is like a loss."
Derek – whose character Charlie is father to Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) – hints his return may come as his family, which also includes mother-in-law Mo Harris (Laila Morse) and his great niece Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner), need him most.
He added: "They need the head of the family don’t they?"
Charlie has previously been involved in a number of dramatic storylines, including one in which he was arrested for attacking Graham Foster (Alex McSweeney) after discovering he’d raped his daughter Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth).
Derek Martin to return to EastEnders
