With Jorgie Porter set to leave Hollyoaks for her maternity leave, one soap legend has been called back to the eponymous Channel 4 village ahead of Christmas in a huge twist.

Nicole Barber-Lane will reprise her role in Hollyoaks along with another actress as the pair will see Hollyoaks star Jorgie Porter off for her maternity leave.

Known as Theresa McQueen on the Channel 4 soap, the actress announced she was expecting her second child with her partner Oliver Piotrowski, with whom she already shares a son named Forrest, born in November 2022. Jorgie has been tipped to exit the show after filming her final scenes in October, 2024.

With only weeks to go, bosses have lined up plenty of drama for Theresa’s exit, including a return for Nicole Barber-Lane aka Myra McQueen, and she will be joined by Diane Langton, who portrays Nana McQueen.

A source cited by The Sun claimed this Tuesday, November 12: “It’s everything fans could wish for having the two matriarchs of the McQueens back for a short stint.” They added: “They’ll arrive like a Christmas miracle just in time for Theresa’s exit and to provide a much-needed boost to Mercedes as she battles bowel cancer.”

Nicole Barber-Lane first left Hollyoaks in 2019 and, following her exit, it was revealed that she would never return to the eponymous Chester village as she was keen to take on new projects, worlds away from soapland.

She said at the time: “I loved working at Hollyoaks, I miss everybody. It just feels like home, but I feel like I need to do something different for me. I’m so proud of the show and I love it to bits. My favourite storyline this time around was Myra meeting Sally and that relationship developing in to what it became.”

Nicole’s alter ego Myra left Hollyoaks despite Mercedes pleading with her to stay, joining two of her surviving children, Jacqui and Michaela, in Alicante to bring them much-needed support. However, in January, 2024, she’d reprised her role unexpectedly after bosses Hannah Cheers and Angelo Abela invited her back onto the programme in 2023.

Nana McQueen, on the other hand, hasn’t appeared on the show since last year and actress Diane Langton was confirmed to be back into the fold by James Sutton, known by fans as John Paul McQueen, who took to Instagram to share news of her return.

This comes after a former Hollyoaks star revealed what he had been up to since leaving the limelight. The TV star, 46, had even made it as far as Hollywood after appearing on reality TV shows including Celebrity Love Island, but things soon took a turn for the worse as he ended up working in a phone repair shop. In a recent interview, the TV star, who has battled drug addiction in the past, has now blamed the demise of his TV and film career on starring in reality TV shows.