Former Emmerdale star Frazer Hines has expressed interest in a return as Joe Sugden.
Hines featured on the show between 1972 and 1994, but following his departure, Joe was killed off in an off-screen car crash in 1995.
Any proper comeback would have to see him come back from the dead. However, that's not stopping fans from calling for his return, according to the star.
"The fans always want me back," he said (via The Mirror). "They say, 'Why don't you come back for six months as a guest?' And I would do that.
"I left Emmerdale because I got sick of going to work when it was dark and coming home when it was dark. I'd just got married and owned a stud farm. And so I said I would leave."
Joe wasn't killed off straight away – in fact, the writers considered bringing the character back. Hines said at the time that while he wasn't interested in a return, he also didn't want Joe to die.
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"18 months [after Joe's exit], I met the producer and he said, 'We are thinking of bringing you back in six months' time'," he recalled. "And I said, 'Well, I'm doing this, that, and the other'.
"And he went, 'Well, if you don't come back, we'll kill you off'. So I said, 'Don't kill him off. Leave him in Spain'. And they killed him off in a car crash.
"Fans say, 'Because it was the Spanish police investigating, it might not have been your body'."
Last month, another former star discussed his character's death. Maxwell Caulfield said he felt bigamist Mark Wylde was killed off too soon.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7pm on ITV, with an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.
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