BBC EastEnders Rocky Cotton star makes huge return a year after shock exit

Rocky Cotton has made a surprise return to to mark Sonia Fowler's exit. , but just before she went - she had one person she needed to see.

to the soap in his role as Rocky, when Sonia came to visit him in prison. She told him: "I don't know how you swung this one. They said I couldn't see you today and had to wait for weeks," as Rocky quipped back: "You'll have to get a move on. I've booked a spa treatment at three, getting my nails done. Have you missed me?"

Sonia later revealed to Rocky her reason for visiting - she wanted to leave but needed someone to give her the nod that it was OK. As Rocky was the closest to a father figure for her, as he initially posed as her father Terry Cant, who is now in Walford and planned to help Sonia get away. After Terry was violent to sister Bianca, Sonia decided she needed to leave alone.

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"So you believe Bianca? You don't think she's making it up?" Rocky asked her, as Sonia admitted to Rocky her feelings on it all: "No I believe her. So then just scrap building a relationship with my dad? I mean, what if he was defending himself. Regardless of who I go with, do you really blame me for wanting to get away?"

Rocky then told her: "You say this is about your dad but this is about you leaving Walford and not for some extended holiday, you're thinking about going for good," as she replied: "It's my home."

"It's not a place; it's here [your heart] isn't it? You want someone's permission, and you want mine?" Rocky asked her. Sonia then replied: "I suppose you're the closest thing I've had to a father figure. I've spent my whole life watching people doing things with their real dads and I've never had a clue who mine was. Those few months when I thought it was you, I finally knew what it was like."

Rocky then quipped: "You're gonna make my mascara run. My old man, god bless him, he's given me two good pieces of advice I've always stuck by. Good decisions come from experience, but the experience comes from bad decisions."

Sonia then asked what the second piece of advice was, to which Rocky then replied: "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Food for thought eh. Whatever happens Son, keep in touch."

Rocky was jailed for staging a at his wife Kathy's café as he struggled with debt due to his gambling addiction. He had seen The Six carry the tarpaulin across the Square on Day and Kathy decided the only way to keep them safe was to get Rocky arrested.

Writing on social media after his exit scenes, Brian said of his character: "Well Rocky, you pretended to be Sonia’s Dad, Had two heart attacks, Married Kathy Beale, Met the King of England, Your best mate’s with , You blew up the café, and had a pet parrot called Jasper. Gonna miss you, you old rascal. X."

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