Former EastEnders star Joe Swash reveals he ‘wouldn’t mind’ returning to the BBC One soap
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Former EastEnders star Joe Swash has admitted that he would one day like to return to the BBC One soap - despite his exit being the "worst outro ever”. Swash starred as Mickey Miller in the show for just over five years.
The actor made the comments regarding a return to the show during a recent episode of I’m A Celebrity... South Africa during a chat with Dean Gaffney, who also starred on the show for 12 years over two separate spells.
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The conversation started when Carol Vorderman asked the pair if they had starred on the show together, with Joe explaining that their spells on the soap had crossed over but not for long.
“When I came back you were there," Dean said, before adding that he’d been back "about five times" since he first left the show and would be happy to do so again. Gaffney was on the show from 1993 - 2003 and again from 2017 - 2019.
“I wouldn’t mind [going back] you know," Joe then revealed. "Purely because of the family. Because you know what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, when you’re doing it. They’ve never asked me to go back in again, not once, mate!”
Swash also lamented his exit, saying: "You know you leave and you get the ‘duff duff’? Mine I went to Norwich to be a bellboy at a hotel and mid-scene just walked in The Vic went, ‘See you later’, turned back to Phil, come to me and I’d gone…" he said. "What? That was it? No duff duff. I was there five years and not one duff duff!”
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Swash was actually ready to give up acting before landing the role of Mickey on EastEnders, after years of minor roles on shows such as Casualty, The South Bank Show, The Bill, "Soldier Soldier" and Nickelodeon’s LOL: Laugh Out Loud.
He joined the popular BBC One soap back in April 2003, initially as a recurring character. After a positive viewer reception, producer Louise Berridge turned Mickey into a regular character, and his on-screen family arrived a year later, including Mickey’s little sister Demi, played by Swash’s real sister, Shana.
His exit from the show came in July 2008, but he returned to the soap in 2011 for two episodes for the departure storyline of his character’s brother Darren, who was played by Charlie G. Hawkins.
Since leaving EastEnders, his career has gone from strength to strength. Just a few months after his exit, he joined I’m A Celebrity in 2008 which he went on to win. From 2009 onwards, Swash had been part of the presenting team on the spin-off series I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, NOW!
More recently, he appeared as a contestant on the 12th series of Dancing on Ice in 2020. He re-partnered in week four, and went on to win it, beating Perri Kiely and Vanessa Bauer in the final.
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