Samantha Womack returns to EastEnders to face 'unfinished business' after baby swap plot

Samantha Womack arriving for the 2013 Arqiva British Academy Television Awards at the Royal Festival Hall, London. (PA)

EastEnders star Samantha Womack said her return to soap as Ronnie Mitchell is "unfinished business".

The actress quit the BBC1 soap after featuring in a controversial storyline where Ronnie abducted Kat Slater's baby and replaced him with her own son, who had died.

She told Hello! magazine: "It was a brilliant plot line but very difficult to play.

"It was draining emotionally and physically and by the end I was shattered with all the crying and weeping."

The 40-year-old mother of two said: "It all started to feel like it was unfinished business. I even got a bit jealous not seeing her on screen. I've really missed the cast too. They're like my extended family so it feels like your first day at school.

"Ronnie was a broken bird at the end but after serving time in prison she'll be steely and a bit of a matriarch with a lot more power and backbone. She's found her old inner strength. A bit like me."

She told the magazine how she dealt with her grief after her father committed suicide saying: "Dad was 60 when he took his own life. It's very hard to be the child of someone who does that."

PA