Jill Gascoine Joins EastEnders

Jill Gascoine has joined the cast of 'EastEnders'.

The 72-year-old actress - who played Detective Inspector Maggie Forbes in 1980s TV show 'C.A.T.S. Eyes' - will portray Archie Mitchell's estranged wife Glenda on the BBC soap.

She will make her first appearance in Walford in Janaury, shocking her daughters Ronnie (Samantha Womack) and Roxy (Rita Simons).

Gascoine said: "I'm thrilled to be joining the cast EastEnders and I am really excited to be back on British TV."

Glenda - who has never appeared onscreen, although has been referred to - has been described as Archie's "beautiful, quiet and dutiful first wife", who left him when her daughter Ronnie gave birth at the age of 14.

She fled to Australia to start a new life but is now back in England and has transformed into a "polished, dynamic and assured woman".

Her reappearance is reportedly part of a shocking Christmas storyline twist involving Archie.