EastEnders legend Jessie Wallace looked completely different to Kat Slater during a rare night out in London with her co-stars. The actress, 54, has played the leopard print-loving Walford resident for more than 25 years, and opted for a sparkly top as she ventured into the capital with her fellow soap stars.

Jessie was all smiles as she posed alongside Jacqueline Jossa, who stars as Lauren Branning and Eve Unwin actress Heather Pearce. Making up the quartet of television legends was Michelle Collins, who made a shock comeback to the serial just over a year ago when it was revealed that her character Cindy Beale had not actually died in prison in the late 1990s.

The actress shared the sweet snap to her Instagram Story via Jacqueline on Saturday afternoon, who had casually captioned it “Girlies,” before tagging her three friends.

A second update to her Jessie’s Story was a video that had been taken from inside a nightclub, and she wrote alongside that post: “Girls night aaaaaattt!”

Jessie first appeared as Kat in September 2000 and was famously involved in the storyline that saw her reveal to Zoe Slater, who was introduced as her sister, that she was, in fact, her mother. Zoe, still played by Michelle Ryan, recently made a comeback to the programme after two decades away.

Kat is also known for her marriage to Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), and the pair were the subject of their own spin-off, Redwater, in 2016. During her stints away from the soap, Jessie has competed on Strictly Come Dancing and, in 2010, she starred as Pat Phoenix in The Road to Coronation Street, which charted the creation of the EastEnders# rival soap in the early 1960s.

It’s also been a dramatic time for Michelle Collins since she made her comeback to the programme in 2024. The character of Cindy Beale was jailed in 1999 after hiring a hitman to kill her husband, and it was said that she had died in childbirth.

But it was then revealed that Cindy had been living under witness protection, and she turned back up in Albert Square wanting to reconnect with her family.

Despite the financial success that came with her return, Michelle admitted she initially felt uncertain about reprising her role as Cindy after 25 years off-screen.

Speaking at the TRIC Awards at Grosvenor House in London, she said: “I didn’t know if people would be happy that she was back. I really didn’t know, you have to take that risk! But I think she’s gone down quite well.”

She also noted that audiences have embraced the character’s villainous streak. “I think people are liking her,” she said. “People don’t want to see nice Cindy. She was nice for a while, and they don’t want to see nice Cindy – I promise you, they don’t.

Sometimes I’ll pick up the scripts and I’ll go, ‘Oh no, you can’t. Really? Having an affair with his son? No, it’ll be fine, people love her.’”