Tamzin Outhwaite took three months of persuading to return to ‘EastEnders’.
The 46-year-old actress – who has Florence, nine, and Marnie, five, with her ex-husband Tom Ellis – is reprising her role as feisty Mel Owen following 15 years away from Walford, and said that without the show’s former producer John Yorke’s persistence she probably wouldn’t have agreed to come back.
She admitted: "I" wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t for him I don’t think.
"He was my boss and I know that he had the show well covered when we were doing it and it was a great time to be in the programme so I got quite excited when he asked me.
"It took about three months to say a definite ‘yes’ but during that time I couldn’t get the voice out of my head of ‘oh going back to EastEnders’."
After 15 years away from Albert Square, Tamzin says the only thing that is different is the fact the actors all get to ride around in golf buggies like in Hollywood.
She told The Mirror Online: "The biggest thing for me is the buggies. So between two studios there are buggies now that take the cast from one to another.
"Before we used to walk for 15 minutes forever but now they can’t afford the time so there are golf buggies everywhere – which I love."
The former ‘New Tricks’ star previously said there her daughters wanted their mother back in the BBC One soap.
She said previously: "When I ask my kids’ advice – my eldest especially – I say: ‘I have got this job and I don’t know if I should do it?’ Her words are always: ‘Can you come home at night?’
"She basically doesn’t really ask what it’s about and if I can come home at night then she says: ‘I think you should do it.’ I was doing a lot of theatre before."
Tamzin Outhwaite was stubborn about EastEnders return
