Lots of speculation about which characters he might axe or which big names he might try to sign up but which characters do you think might return under him?

He was involved in a lot of the material from the late 90s/early 00s so I've seen people suggest the Slaters or Lisa as possibles.

Its a shame EE killed off Steve Owen. Jack Branning is pants in comparison.

With so many characters leaving I feel a return is on the cards, maybe that is SOC plan to bring back a big name, but needs to axe a load before, possibly Michelle, Grant or someone else. I think a return is long overdue, with a major stunt to kill some of the departing of. It's been too long since a stunt was used to kill any characters.

Id say he is more likely to bring a total new family rather than a big name, if he does decide to bring someone back it will most likely be someone like Little Mo or Sarah Hills with a new family in tow.

didnt I see Grant return a few times recently?

Michelle and Grant are highly unlikely, but I imagine a return of some sorts would happen for someone. Little Mo would be interesting; she used to be a favourite way back when.

And yeah I agree about a new family.

Returns are over-rated. We've just had Jack and Steven return anyway, apart from Grant, plus Kathy, Lauren and Johnny. The next one is Max and he's a big-name one, surely?

Nor do I agree that killing off a load of characters is the way to go. It's too limiting. Once they're gone, they're gone, you can't have any more Kathy return-from-the-grave stories. Kill off the odd one occasionally if the story warrants it but it shouldn't be done if it might be regretted.

A new family or two is the way to go, right now.

I don't see why Michelle can't be recast after all this time. I know it would upset a lot of people on here but TBH what proportion of the current EE audience would actually remember Susan Tully?

Or those like me, who DO remember Susan Tully in the role and still couldn't care less if Michelle was recast.

Well, yes, I'm in that boat too.