Danniella Westbrook has insisted that she doesn’t feel nervous about her return to EastEnders.

Westbrook is due to return to the BBC One soap to reclaim the role of Sam Mitchell, which was last played by actress Kim Medcalf. She first joined the soap in 1990 and stayed for three years. She returned in 1995 and 2000 but was written out on both occasions due to her drug addiction.

Speaking to The Mirror, she explained: “The person I was when I last left was sick – it wasn’t the person I was when I first joined in 1990 and I had several years of doing good work before I got ill. People remember the horrific times.

“But I’m not nervous. People keep saying that everyone is worried about how I’m going to cope but I’m a 35-year-old wife and mother, and I cope on a daily basis. I’ve had eight years of being clean and steady, and my family are all behind me because they know it’s the right time.”

Discussing her hopes for the comeback, she revealed: “It’ll be great closure for me to finish something I started. It’s also important that cast members who I let down when I was using drugs see me in a different light. I have to earn their respect back.”