see what is in store for Sharon." Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood said he was thrilled that Dean was returning and he could not wait to see Sharon on screen later in the year. Kirkwood had previously told a columnist for Inside Soap that in Sharon's absence Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) had filled the role of the "quivery lipped blonde" female. Tabloid newspapers claimed Sharon was returning to "fill the gap" left behind by Jessie Wallace's character, Kat Slater, who at the time was on a hiatus. However, an EastEnders spokesperson said "There is no link between Letitia's return to EastEnders and Jessie not being around at the moment. We have been working on plans to bring Sharon back for quite some time." They added viewers could look forward to seeing both characters on screen together later in the year. Dean returned to filming on 6 June 2012. Sharon's return storyline saw her fiancé John (Jesse Birdsall) kidnap her son Dennis Rickman Jnr following a "furious bust up". Sharon enlisted the help former lover Phil to retrieve her son. Sharon returned to EastEnders on 13 August 2012. Sharon's return storyline was marked with seven episodes being broadcast over a period of a week (the typical weekly output at this time was four) and it coincided with EastEnders return to BBC1 following its brief departure to the network's sister channel BBC Two to allow for coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. To promote the character's return, the BBC began airing a trailer across its network's channels during July and August 2012. The trailer showed Albert Square and its residents being blown away by "Hurricane Sharon", who floated down from the sky wearing a wedding dress to the soundtrack of "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones. Dean described Sharon as a lost soul upon her return: "she's totally lost. She doesn't know who she is, where she's going. There's something that comes out later, that's happened to her in the States and stuff like that. But she's a lost soul, and this is home again. There's no place like home, so she finds herself back there again." Sharon's return in 2012 saw her battling with an addiction to painkillers. Sharon secretly visits an addiction support group but continues to use the pain killers whenever things became difficult in her personal circumstances. The problem culminates in 2013 when Sharon is asked to