{"id":110155,"date":"2025-05-17T22:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T22:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/110155\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T22:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T22:40:10","slug":"eastenders-shock-as-legendary-love-rat-returns-after-4-years-as-lacey-turner-prepares-to-leave-soap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/110155\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders shock as legendary love rat RETURNS after 4 years as Lacey Turner prepares to leave soap"},"content":{"rendered":"

EASTENDERS star Jake Wood is making a shock return, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.<\/p>\n

The actor<\/a>, 52, will reprise his role as love rat Max Branning later this year in\u00a0dramatic\u00a0scenes.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Jake Wood is making a shock return to EastEndersCredit: BBC\"Jake<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Jake quit the BBC One soap in 2021 after 15 yearsCredit: PA<\/p>\n

Jake quit the BBC One soap<\/a> in 2021 after 15 years to focus on other acting projects.<\/p>\n

His comeback coincides\u00a0with former on-screen lover Stacey Slater<\/a>, played by Lacey Turner,<\/a> preparing to depart Walford. \u00a0<\/p>\n

A telly source said: \u201cJake\u2019s return is huge news for EastEnders fans as his character made a massive mark on the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll raise some eyebrows after he was absent from the 40th anniversary earlier this year. Bosses are excited about what his character\u2019s reappearance means for spicing up the plots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is plenty to go at. Max has loads of unfinished business in the Square and is set to ruffle some feathers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking earlier this year Jake admitted he missed being part of the soap<\/a> \u2014 except for the busy filming regime.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI don\u2019t miss the schedules. Anyone will tell you how hard they are and sort of all-consuming, but obviously I miss a lot of the people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re at the centre of a big storyline like EastEnders Christmas, something like that \u2014 it\u2019s a real thrill as an actor to be a part of that, big storylines, big characters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did about two or three live episodes and they were always terrifying, but great fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lothario Max had four marriages and ten affairs \u2014 luring a total of 15 women into his bed, including his son Bradley\u2019s partner Stacey.<\/p>\n

EastEnders legend Jake Wood reveals he collapsed on a beach and was just minutes away from death before being saved <\/p>\n

He left Albert Square to start to a new life in New Zealand. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Last weekend, EastEnders scooped a TV Bafta for best soap<\/a> \u2014 with executive producer Kate Oates teasing: \u201cIf you like a return, I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to be disappointed because there\u2019s potentially one on the cards. We\u2019ve got some uncharted territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last night EastEnders declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\"Melanie<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

The actor will reprise his role as love rat Max BranningCredit: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EASTENDERS star Jake Wood is making a shock return, The Sun on Sunday can reveal. The actor, 52,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[192,193,428,429,77,560,2905,205,430,118,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-110155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-bbc-one","10":"tag-eastenders","11":"tag-eastenders-spoilers","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-exclusives","14":"tag-jake-wood","15":"tag-section-tvnews-tv","16":"tag-soap-stars","17":"tag-the-sun-newspaper","18":"tag-tv","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114525583944843065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}