Letitia Dean

EastEnders have brought back two characters, whose return are set to shake things up for the rest of Walford as one threatens to kill his rival amid family troubles

EastEnders have welcomed back some iconic characters to the Square. Original character Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and killer Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) returned in Thursday’s episode – and both of them have bad news for their fellow Walford residents.

Sharon’s return was revealed early on in the episode, when her brother, Zack Hudson (James Farrar), came home to see her in the hallway.

Zack was delighted to see his sister, as was her ex Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), who helped Sharon organise the surprise. But things soon turned sour between Sharon and Phil as she announced that she was selling her share of their boxing gym.

Shortly after, Ravi’s return was also aired. He was seen getting out of a car after almost running over his ex Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Levy). Ravi made it clear that he wanted to get back together with Priya and be a proper dad to their children again, but Priya wasn’t having it.

She stormed off and when he caught up to her, Priya berated him for leaving her. Ravi said that he was “ill”, having only recently left a mental health ward, but Priya fumed that she had stood by him and raged that he slept with her before breaking up with her when he left the hospital.

When Ravi insisted that Priya must care about him or she wouldn’t have sent him a picture with her new man in the background, she suggested that she’d moved on from him.

Unbeknownst to Ravi, his rival for Priya’s attention is Max Branning (Jake Wood). But that didn’t stop Ravi from issuing a threat. He told his stepmother, Suki Panesar-Unwin (Balvinder Sopal) that he wasn’t going to let anything get in between him and his family and if that man tried, he would kill him.

Following Ravi’s threats, some fans suggested that he might be the mysterious gunman who holds Max’s children hostage at New Year.

The gunman was first seen during the flashforward on 1 January 2026, holding Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) and Oscar (Pierre Counihan-Moullier) at gunpoint before telling Max to choose one to save.

One fan wrote: “It’s either setting things up for NYD already (and my theory about Ravi being the gunman being correct) or the biggest red herring.”

A second said: “The nerve of wanting Priya back when he’s treated her like dirt! And issuing death threats… They are trying to sell him as the gunman.” A third asked: “So the gunman in the flash-forward is gonna be Ravi huh?”

The gunman’s identity is one of many mysteries ahead of New Year. Fans had also been wondering who Max would be marrying on that day, but that has since been confirmed as Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) who is not only engaged to Max, but who booked their wedding venue for New Year’s Day in Thursday’s episode.

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EastEnders legend Letitia Dean found love with Holby City star before they parted ways

EastEnders legend Letitia Dean was once married to a television star before their “upsetting” divorce.

Fans of the BBC soap will be delighted as Letitia has reprised her role as Sharon Watts and returned to Walford on Thursday (July 9). She is one of the show’s long-running characters, having appeared in the first episode, which aired in February 1985, as the adoptive daughter of Angie (Anita Dobson) and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham).

From that scandalous affair with the Mitchell brothers during the 90s, to plotting Ian Beale’s (Adam Woodyatt) murder, suffering the loss of her son Denny, and covering up Keanu Taylor’s death, there is nothing Sharon hasn’t been involved in.

Away from the drama of Albert Square, we take a peek at Letitia’s real life, including her marriage to a Holby City star.

Letitia’s rise to fame

Born in Hertfordshire, Letitia and her brother Stephen joined The Sylvia Mitchell School of Dance as children before joining the esteemed Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts at 10 years old. In her early teens, she became a professional performer and landed roles on hit shows including Brookside and Grange Hill.

The 58-year-old soap star, from Potters Bar, orginally played Sharon from 1985 until 1995, and reprised the role from 2001 to 2006. She then made an epic comeback to Walford in 2012.

Appearing alongside co-star Adam Woodyatt on the EastEnders spin-off show Secrets from the Square in 2020, Letitia revealed she lied to producers to get her role as Sharon Watts.

Letitia admitted: “I don’t really remember the audition that much. I know there were quite a few recalls. They were looking far and wide”, but there was one major problem.

The biggest requirement to land a role in the show was that the producers were looking for real Cockneys – people from East London who have a Cockney accent, so Letitia lied and said she was from the area.

Letitia continued: “We had to be born ‘within the sound of Bow bells'”, before adding: “I told a porky!”.

She added: “I said my parents had to go and work away, and I was staying with somebody in ‘the sound of Bow bells’. I do remember getting the job and getting the call. I remember that quite clearly. It was just so exciting.”

Is Letitia Dean married?

Letitia tends not to talk much about her relationships and generally keeps her private life out of the public eye.

However, in 2001, she hit the headlines when it was revealed she was engaged to actor and businessman Jason Pethers, who is perhaps best known for portraying Rob Greening in Holby City.

The couple got engaged after a few months of knowing each other and tied the knot at All Saints’ Church in Marylebone in 2002.

While there were many of her EastEnders castmates at the wedding, Susan Tully, who played Michelle Fowler, acted as her bridesmaid.

But it wasn’t meant to be for the TV stars as they split in 2007. The marriage reportedly ended due to a difference in their plans for starting a family.

Talking about their tough separation during another chat with the Mirror at the time, Letitia admitted that she and Jason are ‘in a good place’, despite having parted ways.

She revealed: “I do not regret one minute of my time with Jay. I was in love – desperately in love – and I can’t reiterate enough how thankful I am that I did get married to that man.”

Letitia added: “As a couple you can, hopefully, go down the same path together as long as you share the same desires and dreams. Unfortunately, many of us fork off in different directions.

“This is the first time I’ve ever talked about what happened, but I’m quite practical about this now. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Jason. But sometimes you just grow out of each other, maybe.

“I did think that by waiting until a bit later in life for marriage, I would know more, and it would last. But none of us can predict. Of course, I didn’t want this to happen, and neither did he, but it did and though it’s upsetting, you just have to get on with it. You have to be strong.”

At the time, Jason’s mum, Joan, said the couple decided to split because Letitia wanted children, while her husband preferred to wait before having them, the Daily Mirror reported.

She said, “They both wanted children, but Jason wanted to wait until he could afford it. She had a lot more money than him. I think, like any man, he wanted to look after his wife.

“They were happy. It was no dramatic thing – they haven’t found someone else. I guess they just fell out of love for the time being.”

Since their separation, Letitia has yet to go public with another romance.

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer