EASTENDERS fans are holding out hope of Ricky Norwood returning to the series as Fatboy, after a video ‘gave away’ he was already back.
In an unsurfaced Instagram video reposted by a fan, Jamie Borthwick, who plays Jay Brown on the soap, was seen having a right ol’ knees up down the pub with some of his Eastenders cast mates.
Ricky – who left the soap in 2015– was seen close and dancing with Natalie Cassidy, who plays Sonia, and together with Jamie they started singing Craig David classic Rewind (When the Crowd Say Bo Selecta) to the camera.
A secondary video showed Shona McGarty (Whitney) cuddling up to Jamie for another 90s dance banger, Show Me Love, before he panned to Ellie Dadd (Amy) and Colin Salmon (George), who joined the show last year.
But it was Ricky’s presence which piqued peoples’ interest the most – with some convinced it could be a sign that he’s somehow making his return to the Square.
As the video was posted to TikTok on a fan account, fans started debating what his appearance on the night out could mean.
“Didn’t fatboy get killed off about 10 years ago? have they resurrected his character?” one noted, prompting the response, “You didn’t see him actually get killed it was just rumoured.”
“If they can bring back Cindy Beale back from the dead then they can bring back Fatboy,” said a third.
“Thing is, why is fatboy here in this video if he’s not back in enders ??”noted a fourth.
Fans have been desperate to see Fatboy – real name Arthur Chubb– return to Walford, even though his character was seemingly killed off by his body being thrown in a boot of a car that was then crushed.
However, viewers have been certain that, as we didn’t see the death, there was still a chance of a revival.
Since then there have been hints Fatboy may have made it out alive – most notably last year during Dot Branning’s funeral, where there was a card signed “Mrs B – forever in my heart. Arthur x.”
Dot – played by the late, great June Brown – had a unique bond with Fatboy, and was the only person who called him by his proper name.
In August last year, fans were delighted to see Ricky in a new scene as Fatboy in a flashback with Cindy, who is now married to George and had returned to the Square.
Ricky has also fuelled the flames by telling Radio Times: “The thing with EastEnders is that anything can happen. I’ve got a lot of love for EastEnders, I’ve got a lot of friends and family that are still there.
“I call them family because you share a lot there. You really build a strong bond with the people that you work with.”
He later teased: “Whether you die onscreen or offscreen, there have been returns.”
