EastEnders brings back Ruby Allen for show’s 40th anniversary

EastEnders is set to bring back Ruby Allen later this year, in the lead-up to the show’s 40th anniversary.

Ruby (Louisa Lytton) was last seen on Albert Square in November 2021, leaving Walford shortly after announcing that she was pregnant with Martin Fowler’s (James Bye) baby.

Martin, who had not long discovered that Ruby had spun a web of lies which led to Stacey’s (Lacey Turner) false imprisonment, refused to believe that she was actually pregnant.

The pair had previously been trying for a baby, but suffered a miscarriage before Ruby was diagnosed with endometriosis, which could affect her fertility.

Ruby left Walford behind as she was carted off to prison after being set up by Jean (Gillian Wright), but viewers were left in the dark as to whether she was telling the truth about her pregnancy.

Now, EastEnders has announced that Louisa Lytton has reprised the role of Ruby for what it describes as “a prolonged stint later this year.”

While Ruby did get confirmation that she was pregnant while she was in police custody, there’s no word on whether she’ll be back with a two-year-old in toe.

However, producers have teased that her return “is sure to cause chaos for Martin and Stacey, who both thought they had seen the back of her for good.”

Louisa has already begun filming and her scenes will air later this year.

Ruby Allen made her first appearance back in March 2005, where she was revealed as the daughter of infamous crime boss Johnny Allen (Billy Murray). She left the following year, but returned in 2018, and stayed on the show until 2021.

She became close friends with Stacey soon after her first arrival in the square, but their years of turbulent friendship fell apart when Ruby took a liking to Stacey’s ex-husband Martin Fowler, with the pair eventually marrying in October 2020.

When Ruby falsely accused Stacey of assault in March 2021, it resulted in Stacey’s imprisonment.

Karma came back to bite Ruby the following year, when Jean Slater set her up after the Slaters’ cannabis farm was discovered, leading to Ruby’s arrest and subsequent departure.

Discussing her surprise return to Albert Square, Louisa says: “I am thrilled to have been asked back to the Square to revisit Ruby once more, and to shed some light on what the past three years have been like for her during her time away from Walford.

“I’ve always loved playing Ruby as there is never a dull moment and I cannot wait for everyone to see what Ruby has in store.”

Chris Clenshaw, the show’s Executive Producer, added: “I’m delighted to welcome Louisa Lytton back to the role of Ruby Allen. Ruby’s departure from Walford left many unanswered questions for Martin and Stacey, and her return is sure to unearth a whole heap of drama for her character and all those involved.”

Ruby isn’t the only familiar face returning to EastEnders in the months to come. Tracy-Ann Oberman has reprised her role as Chrissie Watts, and she’ll be back on our screens next week.

“It felt very surreal,” Tracy-Ann recently said of her return. “I wasn’t in EastEnders for very long as Chrissie but I spent a lot of my life down there because I was in so many episodes in a such a short space of time.

“It was really lovely to go back. I’ve got friends and actors in it now who are friends from outside of EastEnders, with people like Harriet [Thorpe] and Colin [Salmon]. It was great to see them there, and I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody I was in it as it was all kept under hush, hush and the scripts were written with a fake name, and a fake location.

“On the first day, it was like putting a really nice old coat on that you’ve put away in the back of the wardrobe and you think ‘I wonder if I’ll ever wear this coat again.’ As soon as I put it in on and as soon as I was down there, I thought, ‘Great, I love this character’.

“Chrissie has something of the old Hollywood about her. I love it. The storylines she had were very high-octane, very dramatic, and she reminded me of the 1930s, 1940s characters in those old films. Were they villains or were they victims? Nevertheless, they were very strong, and that is what EastEnders does best.”

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