EastEnders' Sam Mitchell lands back in Walford this week in typically dramatic fashion, with actress Kim Medcalf saying her character has "lost her way again".
Mitchell was last seen around Easter when she left the Square after securing a lucrative job offer in Spain, leaving behind her son Ricky Jr, who was about to become a first-time dad.
Speaking about Sam's arrival back in the Square, Medcalf said: "It's typical Sam Mitchell chaos! Sam is thrown out of the back of a van and collides with Phil.
"She tries to make a joke about it, as she always does, and tries to brush it off, but we pretty soon find out she’s in a lot of trouble. Sam’s done her usual trick of taking an easy route, and it’s all gone wrong and backfired on her."
The last time viewers saw Sam Mitchell she preparing to head up a new business venture as the manager of a swanky hotel in Spain.
It's clear things haven't worked out so well and Sam has "lost her way again".
Things go from bad to worse when Camillo tracks Sam down.
"Sam is really scared and doesn’t know quite how to handle this - she’s completely out of her depth," Medcalf explained.
"Camillo is not a man to be messed with, and that’s why Sam is so scared because there’s no bluffing this one out."
However, Sam is in for a surprise when Kat, Phil and Billy rush to her aid.
"She’s gobsmacked that Kat rallies around and that Phil and Billy are there so quickly," the soap star shared. "It’s that whole 'blood is thicker than water' thing.
"At the end of the day, there’s a guy there about to take Kat’s sister-in-law away, and it’s just instinct for her to protect Sam."
The actress says she understands why Sam leaves it such a long time before she goes to see her son Ricky and to meet her granddaughter Charli.
"I find that more understandable because she's dealing with this major crisis," Medcalf said.
"It’s the only thing she can think about because it’s self-preservation. Sam needs to get herself sorted, and then she can go to do the mum and granny thing.
"She tells Ricky that she had stuff going on that she didn’t want him getting involved in, but now she’s here for him."
Ricky is very upset at his mum, which Sam is cognisant of.
"It doesn’t look good, and she’s defensive when Kat says that if it had been her new grandchild, she’d have been straight over there. It doesn’t look right, but Sam’s doing what she can to get through this," the actress said.
When she finally does meet baby Charli, Sam is "completely smitten".
"I absolutely know that Sam adores Ricky, and she’s proud of him," Medcalf said. "I think that makes for a lovely relationship between the two of them.
"If she was just a bit more stable, she would be an amazing mum in many ways. When she sees Charli, she’s just gaga over her.
"Sam knows she has let Ricky down and not been the most conventional mum. But she does want to do the right thing. It’s a big deal to see her son with this little baby and trying to cope with being a dad, so she does want to support him as much as she can."
The 49-year-old British actress said that she enjoys the "whirlwind" experience of playing a character that causes such mayhem.
"It’s fun to have the opportunity to play a character like that because you go in at 100mph, and it is full throttle," she said.
"Sam is a joy to play – although she does say things that you read on paper and you think, 'Oh my god, really? You are really going to say that, Sam?'
"But the reason I love this character so deeply is that I don’t think she’s a nasty person. She doesn’t think about things, and she’s got very little filter.
"She’s made some really stupid decisions, but I believe she’s a good person and capable of being really empathetic."
EastEnders airs on RTÉ One, RTÉ Player and BBC One Monday to Thursday.
