Ricky Groves needs his temporary ‘EastEnders’ comeback was longer.
The 56-year-old actor was seen as his character Garry Hobbs within the BBC One cleaning soap on Wednesday night time (12.02.25) for the primary time since he left in August 2009 as he and Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi) stunned Billy (Perry Fenwick) and Honey (Emma Barton) at their joint stag and hen night time.
Ricky was delighted to be again on Albert Sq. forward of the present celebrating its fortieth anniversary, however he would have favored an extended keep in Walford.
Talking about what it felt wish to return, he mentioned: “[It was] a privilege. An absolute privilege. It was a beautiful day.
“It felt bizarre as a result of I hadn’t been there for years so it was nice to see my outdated buddies.
“It was nice to fulfill a number of the newer forged. I solely want I used to be there for extra.”
The scene noticed the fan favourites be part of crew stag – which included Billy, Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), George Knight (Colin Salmon) and Teddy Mitchell (Roland Manookian) – as they battled it out in opposition to crew hen – that includes his ex-wife Lynne Slater’s grandmother Mo Harris (Laila Morse), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) in a soccer quiz.
Viewers discovered that Garry has grow to be a broadcaster and resides with Minty.
When requested about what he makes of the place his alter ego has ended up, Ricky admitted: “I don’t know the place they got here up with that concept however we have been at all times a double act in the direction of the top.
“We at all times mentioned that ‘EastEnders’ is a bit like Shakespeare.
“You will have your comedy characters, tragedy characters and you’ve got your love characters and your revenge characters.
“You’ve got all these issues to mess around with.
“Garry and Minty have been the Laurel and Hardy of the 2000s.”
Ricky’s character left in 2010 as Garry sailed off into the sundown along with his now ex-wife Daybreak Swann (Kara Tointon), and Cliff’s character departed just a few months later, with viewers hoping he and Garry would reconnect and reunite following his pal’s marriage breakdown.
The pair have saved in contact since leaving Walford, and Ricky mentioned the chemistry between the 2 was simple to recreate.
He mentioned: “It was as a result of I don’t suppose it ever went away.
“We nonetheless communicate and it got here very naturally.
“We labored collectively for such a very long time, so it’s form of like placing on a pair of outdated sneakers.
“It was nice, the chemistry got here again inside minutes.”
