When I rage-quit watching EastEnders in 2017, I really couldn’t imagine a world where I’d be lured back. And then came the news two months ago that Michelle Ryan is returning as Zoe Slater.

Lo and behold, it has me ready to recommit to the legendary British soap.

EastEnders always felt like the pedigree of soaps. At its best, the acting and writing were unrivalled, and it had the ability to capture the entire nation.

I’ll never forget the excitement around ‘Who Shot Phil?’ I was knee-deep in EastEnders by then, but even people who didn’t watch the show remember the moment when almost 20 million viewers discovered the culprit was Lisa.

The only other event that could unite the nation like that was a World Cup final and we hadn’t seen one of those in more than 30 years.

Natalie Cassidy, Steve McFadden, Pam St. Clement, Lucy Benjamin, and Barbara Windsor were just some of the top-tier actors around this time, and they truly were some of the best of British TV.

She was young, fun, and making mistakes I couldn’t wait to make myself

And then came a new family: The Slaters. Right at the height of the demonisation of ‘chavs’ and the end of the Spice Girls era, a new clan arrived in Albert Square and redefined ‘girl power’. Kat, Lynne, Little Mo, and — who we believed at the time was their youngest sister — Zoe, were a tour de force unlike anything seen on any soap before.

Joined by Charlie and nan ‘Big’ Mo, they took absolutely no prisoners, instantly became central to all the drama, and I can’t think of another family in any soap since that captivated audiences so immediately.

I didn’t just care about the Slaters from the get-go, I loved them. Especially Zoe and Kat.

Almost a year after the Slater family’s arrival, Kat and Zoe were at the centre of what was easily the biggest rug-pull I’d ever seen on EastEnders by that point – the moment Zoe screeched, ‘You ain’t my muvva!’ only for Kat to howl back, ‘Yes I am!’ I can’t think of a scene with such extraordinary levels of absolutely sensational high camp.

They don’t get the credit they deserve, but there are few performances as remarkable as Jessie Wallace and Michelle Ryan’s as Kat and Zoe. Their chemistry was dynamite, their shared history was painful, and the betrayal of that shock felt so real and so rich.

This is especially impressive considering that, relative to other characters on EastEnders, we’d only just really got to know them.

They were all survivors in their own right, and as a young gay kid, nothing got me more excited than the power of a strong woman. Zoe, especially.

She was young, fun, and making mistakes I couldn’t wait to make myself, with my teenage years just around the corner. Ryan was also an incredible talent — which is why Hollywood soon beckoned and she was cast as the lead in a reboot of Bionic Woman, leaving the Square in 2005.

I was devastated but still I persisted. Stacey Slater has recently arrived and like every Slater before her came into her own almost immediately.

Lacey Turner, for me, is the greatest EastEnders actor there’s ever been and has been tried, tested and pushed to her limit more than any other.

From her affair with Max to watching Bradley fall from the Queen Vic and caring for her mum Jean who was defined by he bipolar diagnosis for years, Stacey was a true Walford heroine who filled the void.

But my interest waned and one storyline, in particular, devastated me.

The moment I knew I was done with the show came on New Year’s Day 2017. It was the day Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell were killed off — mercilessly bumped off in the two most inexplicable deaths I’d ever seen on EastEnders.

They died in a hotel swimming pool. Roxy was apparently so drunk she was incapable of swimming, and Ronnie’s dress was seemingly the weight of a sinking ship, so she drowned with her.

As I write this now, I’m still so unreasonably angry about it.

That episode tipped me over the edge.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, what was once my favourite 30 minutes of the day became something I began to dread.

So I stopped watching.

But then I got the news that Michelle Ryan would be coming back, and suddenly I felt able to forgive and forget – put the last eight years behind me.

Everything about her return has been EastEnders gold. From Kat snapping at her son Tommy ‘I’m your muvva’ moments before the big reveal of Zoe, to the sheer shock of it.

Zoe’s gone off the rails, Stacey’s kept her in hiding and dragged Alfie into another mess he can’t afford.

Zoe’s talent is causing trouble; during her brief return earlier this summer she caused plenty of it. Lying, drinking and trying to fleece her own family, Ryan slipped back into Zoe’s demons like she’s barely been away.

The second episode with Zoe hiding in the bedroom with her mum just feet away was agonising, perfectly setting up the incoming reunion and moment we’ve waited 20 years for.Zoe’s got a secret, revealing she’s done something ‘so bad’ her family will never forgive her. The possibilities are endless but it’s going to be colossal. I can feel it.

Just a few weeks ago, I couldn’t have imagined watching EastEnders again. Now, I can’t imagine missing a single second of Wallace and Ryan together on screen.

This is the most exciting — and unlikely — reunion since Take That, and I am not going to miss a moment of it.

It’s been a long time since I truly invested in EastEnders. Thankfully, I still recognise most of the main cast, even if I have no idea what they’ve been up to for the best part of a decade.

Like Zoe, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. But with the promise that Michelle Ryan is back for the foreseeable future, I’m ready to dive straight back in with full commitment.