Denise Fox (Diane Parish) looks set to be reunited with a key family member in 2026 on EastEnders.
The BBC One soap aired its flashforward episode on New Year’s Day 2026, which showed events on New Year’s Day 2027 on Albert Square, and Walford is seen readying itself for the latest wedding of Max Branning (Jake Wood).
However, one person who is towards the end of the episode, looking for Denis,e is her younger daughter, Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu).
Entering the home of her mother and step-father, Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), with surrogate grandfather Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker), Libby finds the place empty with no sign of her mother, but does find Denise’s mobile phone ringing on a messy table.
Libby and Patrick are ready to go to the wedding – but is Libby back for good, or is she only a guest at Max’s wedding?
Libby Fox is back! BBC
The episode presents some potential brides for Max, which include Libby’s older sister, Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams), and even Denise herself, given that Jack was calling the bride and Denise’s phone is one of the ones to ring – despite Denise being absent from the episode, having apparently walked out on Jack the night before.
Is the reason for Libby’s reappearance that her sister or mother is getting married? We’ll have to wait and see.
Introduced with the nickname “Squiggle” in 2006, Libby is the daughter of Denise and her abusive first husband, Owen Turner (played by Lee Ross), the latter of whom once tried to kill her and take his own life before being sent to prison.
Much of Libby’s time in Walford was spent on her studies and her romance with Darren Miller (Charlie G Hawkins), which was complicated by numerous obstacles, including his fathering a child with Heather Trott (Cheryl Fergison), her absences as she attended Oxford University, and a love rival for Darren in the form of Adam Best (David Proud).
Libby’s father, Owen, also returned to Walford in 2009 and was later murdered by Denise’s third husband – and Chelsea’s father – Lucas Johnson (Don Gilet). Libby also later believed that Denise had been killed, but it was later revealed that she was being held captive by Lucas.
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Following this trauma, Libby went on an extended trip to Spain to stay with her sister and paternal grandmother, Liz Turner (Kate Williams) in 2010 as the character was written out of the soap. A single Libby made peace with Darren before she left Walford, but was later revealed to have returned to Oxford.
From 2014 to 2017, Libby continued to make recurring guest appearances to visit or be visited by her mum, Denise, including supporting her mum during her pregnancy with son Raymond and also going through her own termination in 2016.
In 2023, Libby was revealed by Chelsea to have reunited with Darren, and the pair were holidaying together in the Cotswolds.
Will Libby be in a relationship with Darren when she returns to Walford?
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