Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth)

[Chloe O'brien]

But she hasn't been in it for years so i don't think she would want to return anyway. Although i can think of other mitchells that i would like to see meet the grim reaper instead of Kathy

[Jojo]

She was offered money to go back a while ago, and if you keep turning them down, what do you expect - its a shame, but she's been off our screens as Kathy for so long now, I don't miss her at all.

[pops110874]

I think shes only being killed off so that ben can come back into phils life.

Phil is at a bit of a loose end with no gf or child or family apart from billy and peggy.

Maybe the offered Gillian the chance to come back and she said no?

[tammyy2j]

I would prefer for Ian, Martin, Sonia and Pauline be killed off instead.

Would it not be better to have Kathy return and maybe kill her off in Walford. Didn't Kathy remarry in Africa so wouldn't her new husband get custody of Ben since Phil does not have any contact with him.

[Kim]

I think the bosses were hoping that Gillian would ask to return but didn't so they decided to kill her off and bring Ben back in.

[melanielovesdennisrickman]

I don't really mind that they are killing Kathy off,as it would make a good storyline with Ben,and also she has left anyway,and i don't think she was planning on coming back.

[Kim]

Not in the near future she wasn't but maybe in five years or something.

[Florijo]

I don't have a problem with them killing Kathy off. The producers can't never kill a character (on or off-screen) just on the vague chance that the actress/actor might decide to come back in 5 years or whatever. That would leave them constantly at the whim of the actress/actor involved. Most ex-EastEnders' would usually only ever come back if the work dried up and then treat EE as a fall back. That is not the best thing for the show. The actress has said she had "always thought she'd come back to Walford one day.", yet she turned down an offer to come back. You can't have it both ways.

Ben coming to stay with the Mitchells would make a great storyline. It would provide the Mitchell family with new blood and build the family up again. We don't even know if this is true yet as The Mirror has not always been accurate (Zoe Lucker to join Corrie, for example) but I would like it to be true and Kate Harwood did say in Inside Soap that she wanted to build the existing families back up again.

[sarah21]

I don't have a problem with this either. The actors can't refuse to come back but keep EE as a safety net just in case they have nothing else. With Kathy dying it creates a storyline for Phil and Peggy. Phil is going to have his son back, so at least it is for a reason. Kathy hasn't been in it for years anyway, so what does it matter? Better to kill her off than any of the existing cast. We need them to create some continuity with all the new characters arriving. Building up existing families is the way forward.

[Mr Humphries]

Tammy darling well done ! She did and I do believe that the new husband adopted him too