EastEnders fans believe they have "worked out" the former show star who will be making a "big return" for the soap's 40th anniversary.

Viewers of the BBC programme took to social media after Michelle Ryan, who played Zoe Slater before leaving the show in 2005, made a post on Instagram.

In the post, she revealed that she had a pre-Christmas catch-up with fellow show legend Kim Medcalf (Sam Mitchell) after not seeing each other for five years.

EastEnders fans say Michelle Ryan will make 'big return' for the show's 40th anniversary

Following this post, EastEnders fans were whipped up into a frenzy with many believing that she will be making a big return to Albert Square next year.

One user said: "Omg!!! She’s definitely coming back isn’t she."

Responding to this, another person wrote: "Imagine Zoe and Sam return at the same time that would be so cool," to which the original commenter said: "All this teasing from Michelle can’t be for nothing surely."

One person posted: "She is deffo coming back it's going to be iconic".

Another fan of the BBC show added: "Would be a big return that's for sure".

Recently, Michelle Ryan hinted that she would like to return to the show after years of denying any comeback.

In a social media post featuring several lovely photographs, Michelle said: "Just got back from a lovely dog walk with my friend Kacey. We worked together many moons ago (no pun intended) on Eastenders as sisters.

"Part of the Slater family. Our boss John Yorke took a real risk putting a family of women in the show and it paid off as on one week when Zoe found out that Kat was her mother viewers tuned into the BBC for 19, 18, 20 and 21 million per episode plus the omnibus."

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She added: "The national grid reported a surge in electricity as all the kettles were clicked on after the credits. Such a heady heyday the early 2000s were. The excitement of knowing you had a two-hander written by Tony Jordan was like opening a present on Christmas Day.

"You would check your pigeonhole where scripts and fan mail were placed and rush back to highlight the dialogue. I will always be grateful to John and Tony for my first big break on primetime TV. They were a winning combo."

This post prompted much excitement from fans with one user asking: "Would you not just come back? It would be epic!".

Responding to this, the actress said: "Never say never".

She also said: "That’s for the producers to decide" in response to another comment.