Actress Louisa Lytton is reprising her role as Ruby Allen on EastEnders more than a decade after she first appeared on the soap.
Lytton made her debut in Walford in 2005 playing Ruby, the daughter of gangster Johnny Allen (Billy Murray).
Ruby became romantically involved with Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky) and friends with his sister Stacey (Lacey Turner) who took her under her wing.
The character left EastEnders in 2006 and will now return to Walford "more confident than ever", the BBC revealed in a statement.
Lytton said: "EastEnders was my first acting job out of drama school and opened so many doors for me.
"It's wonderful to be given the opportunity to come back and explore my character and I'm excited to see what's in store for Ruby.
"We last saw her 12 years ago as a young girl and now she is returning as a woman with scope for major change and some brilliantly challenging storylines."
John Yorke, the show's executive consultant, said: "Louisa is a fantastic actress and I am delighted that she is returning to EastEnders.
"Now 12 years older, viewers will see a much more mature and confident Ruby who is set to be involved in one of our biggest storylines later this year."
Lytton's final scenes on EastEnders were aired in November 2006, the same year she joined the celebrity line-up for the fourth series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The 29-year-old actress went on to star in ITV's The Bill as police constable Beth Green from 2007 to 2009.
In 2016 she took part in celebrity sports show The Jump and was the first contestant to exit the reality series.
Ruby's return to Walford will air later this year and will see her try to reconnect with her old best friend Stacey Slater.
