EastEnders: Sam Mitchell's biggest storylines

It has been reported that Danniella Westbrook is being lined up to reprise her role of Sam Mitchell in BBC soap opera EastEnders.

The star first found fame in the show back in the 90s before she was axed in 2000 due to her ongoing drug addiction, the character returned with a new actress, Kim Medcalf, in 2002 before Danniella came back in 2009.

Although she hasn’t always been played by the same face, it has been a consistently bumpy road for Sam, the younger sister to bad boys Phil and Grant Mitchell, so we thought that we’d take a look back at some of the character’s biggest storylines ahead of her potential return:

Played by Danniella, Sam made her EastEnders debut in 1990 as Peggy’s long-suffering teen daughter and in 1991 she nabbed her first big storyline – eloping with Ricky Butcher (yes, that Ricky) despite her family’s disapproval.

Sam eventually left Ricky in 1993, when she took her first of many breaks from the show, but trust us when we say that Ricky is about to become a recurring feature.

When Sam returned in 1995, Ricky was shacked up with his soon-to-be wife, Bianca Jackson, and although he refused Sam’s advances she decided to snog him anyway, splitting Ricky and Bianca up.

When Ricky still won’t rekindle their romance Sam met a Spanish lothario and ended up leaving the show again in 1996, jetting off to Spain with her new beau.

All doesn’t go well for Sam and Kim Medcalf got her Sam Mitchell debut when Peggy found her daughter working in a lapdancing club in Spain. She brings her back to Walford and eventually Sam ends up having flings with everybody from Trevor Morgan (yes, Little Mo’s abusive husband!) to Dennis Rickman to Beppe DiMarco to, you’ve guessed it, Ricky.

Proving that she has absolutely no shame, she even starts flirting with Dirty Den Watts, who leaves her humiliated when he sacks her from his club.

Sam then persuaded her hapless cousin Billy Mitchell to torch her brother Phil’s snooker club in an insurance scam but ended up burning down Den’s club, with his daughter Vicki almost dying inside.

This kicks off Den and Sam’s ongoing feud and her consequent marriage to gangster Andy Hunter, who was using Sam to gain control of the Mitchell family’s businesses.

However, Den and lawyer Marcus Christie were two steps ahead of Andy and trick Sam into signing the businesses over to them, once Andy realised that he no longer has a use for Sam he kicked her out of the house, leaving her homeless and penniless.

This is what triggered the big Den Watts murder story (erm, the second one) with Sam joining Zoe Slater and Den’s wife Chrissie to get revenge on the scheming character.

Sam witnessed Chrissie deliver a fatal blow to Den’s head, but Chrissie thought she’d got away with it and lets Zoe take the blame for Den’s murder… Only for Sam to dig up Den’s corpse in the hope that Chrissie will get arrested.

Obviously this mastermind plan didn’t exactly work as all of the evidence pointed to Sam being Den’s murderer and she got charged and jailed.

Eventually her brothers were able to prove that Chrissie committed the crime so Sam was released but charged with perverting the course of justice, so she fled the country and jetted off to Brazil in 2005.

Sam, and Danniella, returned again in 2009, using a fake passport. The Mitchells tried to keep Sam hidden but Bianca, still annoyed about that Ricky thing from the 90s, called the police. Sam is arrested again but her cousin, Ronnie, pays her bail and she’s released.

In a twist of fate, Sam and Ricky get engaged again but of course this is EastEnders and nothing can run smoothly so she has an affair with Jack Branning, cousin Ronnie’s partner. Scandalous. She eventually told Ricky about the affair and he ended their engagement.

While that’s going on, Peggy’s estranged husband, Archie Mitchell, cons Sam into helping him steal the Queen Vic from Peggy (anybody else sense a theme here?)

Sam flees, again, and when she returns Archie is murdered and Sam becomes one of the suspects so she turns herself in for all of the other crimes that she has fled the country for and serves 18 months in prison.

In 2010, Peggy visits Sam in prison and discovers that her daughter is pregnant but doesn’t know if Ricky or Jack is the father, once she returns to Walford both men force her to allow a paternity test on the baby and Sam lies and says Ricky is the father.

Bianca discovers that Jack is actually the dad and that, ladies and gents, is where little Richard Branning – who is currently in the soap – came from.

Ronnie, Jack’s girlfriend, bans him from being near the baby and eventually pays Sam to leave with Richard, never to see Jack again, so Sam moves to Portugal with her brother, Grant.

The last time we saw Sam was last year when Danniella Westbrook returned to the show for Peggy Mitchell’s funeral. Bringing Ricky, now aged 6, with her, she admits that she’s a pretty a rubbish mum and leaves her son with Jack and Ronnie.

Sam left the show in traditional EastEnders style: in the back of a taxi.

Now with her cousins, Ronnie and Roxy, dead and Jack struggling to raise three kids on his own, will Sam be returning to wreak havoc in the streets of Walford once again?

Only time will tell…