Barbara WindsorBarbara WindsorBabs Windsor is set to return to EastEnders this summer after two years of absence.

But while it's good news for her, things aren't so rosy for the show's producer.

 

The BBC has announced that Kathleen Hutchison is to leave the soap as the corporation's head of drama opts for a "production reshuffle".

Series producer Sharon Hughff is also leaving... the explanation being that the two have "completed their task of managing this period of transition".

But as they pack their bags, Babs Windsor is busy getting back in Peggy mode and has been promised some dramatic storylines in the hope of boosting the show's ratings after they hit an all-time low last year.

Barbara left Albert Square in March 2003, after she was struck down by the Epstein-Barr virus.

She made a brief appearance back in the soap at Christmas for the wedding of her daughter Sam, but come the summer... Peggy Mitchell will be back for good.

"I'm over the moon to be coming back to the show," Babs said.

"I had a great couple of weeks when I was there recently, it really reminded me that the Square is where I feel at home."

Whilst she was ill she was confined to her house for months on end and fell victim to depression.

"I was suicidal but didn't have the courage to do anything about it. I'd go to bed and think, 'God, please don't let me wake up in the morning.'"

But she was helped through her illness by her partner, Scott Harvey, who is 26 years her junior and she's recently released a fitness video to mark her return to health.