EastEnders is reintroducing the show's most memorable villain as Nick Cotton has returned to Walford.
Following his brief appearance at the end of Friday night's episode, Nick horrifies his son Charlie (Declan Bennett) next week by arriving at Dot's house unexpectedly, threatening to reveal the fact that his recent 'death' was faked.
EastEnders' executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins recently promised to tell "the Nick story to end all Nick stories", so there is bound to be huge drama ahead for the Cottons and the Mitchells as the iconic character causes more trouble.
This week, Digital Spy had an exclusive chat with John Altman, who plays Nick, to hear more gossip about what's in store.
How does it feel to be back on EastEnders?
"First of all, as an actor, it's great to be working. It's also fabulous to be given some quite powerful storylines - and I love EastEnders, so it's great to be back!"
Were you surprised when you got the call to return?
"It's always a nice surprise when they do get in touch. Over the years, sometimes I've had long stretches away from the show. That can be as long as nine years, which means I have to get on with my life outside of EastEnders - I don't sit by the phone waiting for it to ring!
"There have been a couple of times when I've had to say no to returning because I've been doing something else, but this time it worked out."
How did you feel about the fake death storyline for Nick?
"I knew about Nick returning from the dead long before anyone else knew about it, because the executive producer Dominic and story producer Alex [Lamb] told me about their plans. Of course I had to remain quiet about that, and it's quite hard because I couldn't really tell anybody at all. You have to be careful if you're talking in a taxi or on a train, because you never know who might overhear you!
"I had to keep the truth a closely-guarded secret, but that's part of being up here at EastEnders. I love surprises and I wouldn't want to know myself what was coming up."
Keeping it quiet must have been a challenge!
"It was particularly difficult when Nick's funeral came around! People kept saying to me, 'Isn't it terrible that they've killed him off and you weren't even there?' People were moaning about it and saying he was a great character so it shouldn't have happened!
"I just had to listen to them and say, 'You're right, I don't know anything about it either'. Something went round about me being annoyed about it, but that wasn't actually true - it was just what I had to say in order to cover it all up!"
Why does Nick decide to return next week?
"Nick has got himself into a bit of a fix. He's run out of money again and he's been out of the country, mixing with the criminal elite in Spain I believe! Once again, he's on his uppers and he always comes back to the Square when that happens so that he can tap up someone there to help him out.
"Nick is in a bit of a corner, though. Having declared himself dead, he doesn't want to be seen. He's almost returning in spirit form!"
What kind of a relationship can we expect between Nick and his son Charlie?
"It's going to be fractious. Nick had Charlie many years ago and left Yvonne to bring him up. He did pop by occasionally but not very often, so Nick was one of those absent fathers. Charlie has a lot of resentment about the fact that Nick was never there when he was a little boy, but at the same time, Nick is still his dad.
"There's that 'blood is thicker than water' thing bubbling under the surface, so we can expect to see some very powerful run-ins between Nick and Charlie. You'll also see some quite tender and emotional scenes, because they are father and son and they haven't seen each other for a long time."
Nick gives Charlie an ultimatum
© BBC
Nick gives Charlie an ultimatum
How about Nick and Yvonne?
"Yvonne is Nick's wife. It's the only time he's got married, although he seems to have a string of kids all over the place! Maybe there are others, I don't know! Nick didn't tell Dot about Yvonne, which is typical.
"Yvonne will become entangled in the evil web of Nick. I think they're very different people. She was a nurse way back and met Nick when he'd just come out of a remand centre, so it was a case of opposites attracting. There's still passion between the two of them, but Yvonne is fighting that because she doesn't really want to get sucked back into the evil world of Mr. Nicholas Cotton!"
Cotton is a huge name in soapland, so are you pleased to see the family being expanded with these new characters?
"Very much so. The family is quite dysfunctional in many ways, which is probably due to Nick and also Nick's father, who was the original Charlie Cotton.
"I always felt that Nick's dad died a little bit too soon into the history of this soap. That was a bit of a gratuitous killing-off, I thought. They said it was to draw Nick and Dot closer together, but I never believed that and thought they should have kept Charlie Cotton for a lot longer. He was a great character and a really great actor. Sadly Chris Hancock is no longer with us.
"As an actor, you get to love your on-screen family and I'm sure that's the same with the rest of the cast too. To see the Cotton family expanded is good and quite exciting, as there are new faces to be playing with."
Dominic has gone public with the fact that Nick Cotton vs. Ronnie Mitchell will be a big storyline! Are you looking forward to that?
"Yeah! That was a surprise to me. Ronnie has already bumped somebody off, hasn't she? The score right now is three kills for Nick and one for Ronnie! Those two characters will definitely be going head-to-head.
"Nick isn't best pleased that Ronnie and Charlie are together because she's a Mitchell. He's never liked the Mitchells - particularly Phil. Anything to do with the Mitchells, Nick does not like, so you can expect to see a few fireworks going off long after Bonfire Night!"
Are you excited about the long-term arc planned for Nick?
"Very, yes! They've cooked up some pretty dastardly events. There's some very dramatic stuff coming up and I'm very proud to be a part of it again."
What's it like to work with June Brown again?
"With the show's anniversary coming up you suddenly think, 'Crikey, I've known her for 30 years!' June is a dear friend and we meet up when we can, but of course she is employed at EastEnders and that keeps her very busy. Now that I'm up here again, it's a reminder that you almost get cut off from the rest of the world because it takes over your life.
"It's great to be back with June. There's a lot of pressure, as you might suddenly get six scenes thrown at you to film the next day, so you've got to get your head down until midnight or 1am to cram them all in. June is amazing for her age because she's working under that same pressure quite a lot, but she loves what she does."
Did you get a chance to catch up with June before your return?
"Before I started back, I actually went over to see June and we spent five hours together combing through the script, just making sure that it was right. Bless them, there are loads of writers and they don't always get it exactly right - they sometimes write Nick how they think he is, rather than how he actually is.
"The standard of the writing on the show is very good, but as we go along, we'll sometimes see sections of the script that we don't think is quite how it should be, so we'll put a little change in here or there. We don't do that over-dramatically because that would cause chaos, but sometimes we'll put something in or take a line out.
"Myself and June know the characters so well and we're a bit of a double act, really - maybe we should do some comedy over the holiday season!"
Nick is such a well-known character. When did you first become aware that he was reaching that iconic status?
"I suppose it takes time to become iconic. It's hard for me to completely see it because I play it, but it's probably over the last five years that people have started writing that down. I was quite pleased when they did, as it's certainly no bad thing, is it?"
You obviously have worked outside of the show too, so have you ever wanted to move on from Nick?
"Well, people will never forget Nick, will they? The acting business is a strange one - you just don't know from one month to the next where you're going to be half the time, so it's very insecure in many ways. But at the same time, that's exciting - I quite like the gypsy life.
"I never know whether I'm going to be on the road like I was when I was doing Chicago a few years back, or going off to do a film in Liverpool, which I did before coming back to EastEnders. That was called My Lonely Me and was directed by Joe Scott. That's going to Cannes in 2015, so I'll be going down there.
"I have lots of unfulfilled ambitions. The film world beckons again and I love it. I've never worked in America and I've never actually performed on the West End stage, so who knows what the future holds?"
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