Shane Ritchie hints at major EastEnders spoiler on Good Morning Britain as he reveals he never told his mum about his return

Shane Richie has revealed that he kept his return to EastEnders so quiet that not even his mum knew he was returning – before almost giving away his character’s storyline.

The fan-favourite actor returned to the soap on Thursday night , being revealed right at the end as Hayley Slater went to meet her mystery man, Alfie Moon.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Ritchie spoke of keeping the secret so well that it landed him in trouble a special person in his life.

He told the show: “My mum bless her, rang me last night, if you know my family, all from Dublin, she said, ‘Shane, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Alfie’s back now, come on!”

Ritchie added that he didn’t even tell his best friend Jessie Wallace – who plays recently returned Kat Slater –that he was coming back into the fold, and that his name was disguised in the script.

He continued: “All the cast got a script and they had this moody name in it, I can’t remember what it was - like Richard or Robin or something - and everyone’s going, ‘Who’s this Hayley’s boyfriend?’ and no one guessed.

“Jake Wood text me, Steve McFadden… are you coming back? I said, ‘No, I’m away filming Benidorm’. Of course, I wasn’t.”

Host Kate Garraway quickly hushed Ritchie and asked him if he had inadvertently given away a spoiler.

He then explained that the “big story” as to why Alfie is back in Walford will be revealed in the next episode, with his character “throwing a spanner in the works”.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV while EastEnders airs tonight, Friday, at 8pm on BBC One.