Hollyoaks star Chelsee Healey will return to the Channel 4 soap following her maternity leave, despite previously fuelling rumours that she had been axed.
The actress, 36, who made her name in BBC drama Waterloo Road, has played Goldie McQueen since 2016.
The character was left the eponymous village in January, before she headed off on a world cruise with Myra (Nicole Barber-Lane), though returned for a brief scene in May.
Viewers then saw a sun-bronzed Goldie briefly return for the wake of her son Hunter (Theo Graham).
His death took place just hours after after Lizzie Chen-Williams (Lily Best) – who had also taken drugs – died on the dance floor during her dad’s wedding, with the rest of the twenty-somethings terrified after also taking the dodgy pills.
Returning home, Hunter passed away on the sofa beside his twin-brother Prince (Malique Thompson-Dwyer).
In the weeks leading up to these episodes, Channel 4 announced it was reducing Hollyoaks’ weekly output from five to three episodes per week, in a new 20 minute format.
That also meant that up to 20 characters would be departing to facilitate the changes, which will begin next week with an epic stunt week and UK soap-first time jump that will see the action permanently skyrocket one year into the future.
Last month, Chelsee updated fans on Instagram with a worrying post that seemed to suggest she was one of the affected actors.
‘Been very inactive on here,’ she wrote: ‘Things are feeling a little heavy and dark at the minute. Staying [bicep emoji] for my girls and have the best support around me. Hope everyone is well.’
However, in an interview discussing the show’s future, her on-screen son Malique has seemingly dispelled the rumours: ‘She [Chelsee] will be coming back soon. She has had a baby in real life so it’s going to be amazing when she comes back.’
‘Prince needs some sort of guidance as well. He’s got his family but his mum, I feel like she’s the only one Prince will really listen to’ he told The Daily Mirror.
‘I feel like he needs her back.’
Last night, it was confirmed that another member of the McQueen family – headmistress Sally Sinclair (Annie Wallace) – will exit next week.
‘The last filming days were really quite intense’ she exclusively told Metro.co.uk.
‘My last day was July 31, so I’ve had a month to decompress – and I have decompressed. I was very upset. There is no lying about it. It’s my career and I love the show.’
Hollyoaks airs tonight in a double-bill from 7pm on E4, before a new broadcast pattern from next week – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm on E4, with a first-look on Channel 4 streaming each morning.
