Babs to the rescue

EastEnders has been boosted by the news that Albert Square favourite Barbara Windsor has been okayed to return to the series.

10:44 04 November 2004

EastEnders has been boosted by the news that Albert Square favourite Barbara Windsor has been okayed to return to the series.

Windsor was hurried out of the Square last year when she was diagnosed with the crippling Epstein-Barr virus.

Since her departure the soap has slipped in viewers' estimations, recording its lowest-ever viewing figures and slipping behind Emmerdale in the ratings on some nights.

But things are looking up and Windsor has been given the go-ahead to return to the soap she loves.

"You know that Epstein-Barr - that nasty virus I had - well, I got my blood test results back yesterday and it's gone. I can't tell you how great it is," she said yesterday.

Babs, 67, has already made a fleeting return to the soap, featuring in episodes about on-screen daughter Sam's wedding to Albert Square badboy Andy Hunter.

But a permanent return for the tiny queen of the Mitchell clan is not necessarily a done deal.

"I'm not under contract but when they sort themselves out, who knows," she noted.