John Partridge would return to 'EastEnders' if Rita Simons came back for good.
John Partridge played Christian Clarke on EastEnders
The 46-year-old actress played Roxy Mitchell until she was killed off in January 2017 returned to the soap this week for special scenes in which her on-screen daughter Amy Mitchell (Ellie Dadd) had a vision of her late mother while encouraged to open up about her loss during a therapy session.
And now John, who played Roxy's pal Christian Clarke from 2008 to 2012 and returned for guest appearances between 2014 and 2016, has admitted he felt his alter ego would view it as his "duty" to go back to Albert Square if soap bosses somehow figured out a way for Rita to return for good.
He told RadioTimes.com: "Well, listen, they’ve done it before, they’ve risen people from the dead before so you never know, do you?
"I think if Rita did make a miraculous recovery, I do think that for Christian it would be his duty to have one final rock 'n' roll. I think he would have to come back from Birmingham, he’d have to leave his retail job in the Bullring [shopping centre] - I’m pretty sure that’s where he is, probably working for Jo Malone or The White Company in the Bullring - living his full retail fantasy."
However, though John said he would "never say never" to an 'EastEnders' return, he admitted he felt there was a "shelf-life" to the characters.
But he added: "I tell you what though, I can still rock that vest. Don’t get it twisted, Christian can still rock a tight pair of jeans and a vest, even at 52!"
Rita recently teased that because viewers did not see her character's body after she and her sister Ronnie (Samantha Womack) both drowned in a swimming pool, there is a possibility that Roxy is not dead after all and could potentially make a reappearance "for the fans."
She told 'Good Morning Britain': "I could come back because you didn't see my body. I don't know if I could come back. It's awful because the fans are like 'Please come back!' I did this for the fans, I did this for them and they blew me away last night. Would I go back..?"
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