EastEnders’ Alfie Moon actor Shane Richie recently spoke to The Mirror about a story ‘bigger than the 40th’ coming up that seems to be about Zoe Slater, linked to his break from the BBC soap

Actor Shane Richie has addressed his ‘exit’ from EastEnders(Image: BBC)

Actor Shane Richie has addressed his ‘exit’ from EastEnders, as his character Alfie Moon left for some time away in Australia.

Of course fans know this wasn’t where he was really headed, after he’d told wife Kat Slater how he was going to visit his brother Spencer Moon. Just days earlier, Alfie had visited Kat’s cousin Stacey Slater only to find his stepdaughter, Kat’s daughter, Zoe Slater there too.

This was Michelle Ryan’s big return to the role and the BBC soap for the first time in 20 years. Now she’s making a permanent return, but this week we saw her flee and didn’t reveal where she was going.

Stacey and Alfie were sure she’d fled back to Spain, while she appeared to be in big trouble there. It soon turned out she’d made up death threats and messages about some money she owed, and Zoe confessed she was hiding a massive secret.

As she prepared to tell Alfie and Stacey what was going on, she refused to reunite with her mother Kat and banned them from telling her she was there. She hinted whatever she was hiding was “unforgivable” and really bad, and no one could know.

EastEnders’ Alfie Moon actor Shane Richie recently spoke to The Mirror about a story ‘bigger than the 40th’ coming up that seems to be about Zoe Slater(Image: PA)

But before we could find out what it was she ran away, with Alfie and Stacey desperately trying to track her down. On Thursday night we saw Alfie leave the Square ‘for Australia’, while it was clear Kat wasn’t convinced.

Alfie told Stacey he was going to bring Zoe home and set off to track her down. Speaking exclusively to The Mirror before the scenes aired, Alfie actor Shane addressed his onscreen ‘exit’ and explained where he was in real life.

He also appeared to tease how long Alfie would be gone for after his claims it would be two weeks tops. Shane explained he was off for around a month, not filming in this time.

This doesn’t mean he will be offscreen for this amount of time or longer, but it could well mean Alfie extends his trip out of the Square. He told us: “I’ve been away for four or five weeks because I’ve been on tour with my mates.

Shane also teased there was more drama to come for Alfie’s son Tommy Moon (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

“I’m coming back and reading scripts and going, ‘Oh my God!”. So the tour paved the way for Alfie’s own break from Walford, with it written in that he would go and find returning character Zoe.

Whether he manages to bring her back remains to be seen, but Zoe will be back onscreen this summer. Actress Michelle teased a massive storyline they were currently filming for her return, teasing “high stakes” with multiple night shoots.

While Shane didn’t mention Zoe or actress Michelle at all when we spoke to him, with the return still under wraps at this point, he appeared to tease the big plot that Michelle has this week referred to. Teasing a storyline “bigger than the 40th episodes”, he revealed a huge plot was kicking off that would run until at least the New Year.

Teasing all, Shane revealed new producer Ben Wadey had huge things planned for the show. The actor told us: “He has told me some things. I said let me sit down.

“There’s fireworks, there’s Kat and Alfie. There is a story that is about to kick in, which will carry on through to after Christmas. Honestly it’s a big story. If you thought the 40th was big wait until you see this story. That’s all I’m saying.”

Shane also teased there was more drama to come for Alfie’s son Tommy Moon and his pal and now blackmailer Joel Marshall, who assaulted a woman this week and had Tommy film it. Amid Tommy’s turmoil, Shane teased things would continue in scenes yet to be aired after Alfie’s exit.He hinted of what was to come for Tommy and Joel: “[It will continue]. While I was away something [big was being filmed].” He didn’t give anything away but confirmed it was while Alfie was away.