EastEnders star Laura Doddington has confirmed what the future holds for Nicola Mitchell, teasing that “redemption” could be on the cards.

Nicola, the ex-wife of Teddy Mitchell and mother to Harry and Barney, arrived in Walford back in November, with the fiery character harbouring several secrets as she sought to repair the bond with her estranged family.

One of the secrets pertained to the mysterious disappearance of Shireen Bashar, Harry’s ex-girlfriend. After a storyline involving a property venture, it was eventually revealed that Nicola was responsible for Shireen’s death.

The storyline crossed over with Zack Hudson, who was revealed to be Barney’s father as a result of a fling with Nicola. The various revelations saw Nicola arrested, and ostracised from her family following her release.

Despite everything, Doddington expressed hope that her character could be forgiven in the future, teasing to OK! Magazine at the British Soap Awards that “there’s always redemption”.

“The knock-on effect of a secret of 16 years coming out would bring drama into anyone’s life,” the actor added. “In Nicola and the boys’ case, I think there’s a journey to be had in that. It’ll be interesting to see what she will do [and] how she repairs it with Barney.”

Doddington, who had previously appeared on Casualty and Holby City, also addressed her future on EastEnders, adding: “I don’t want to go yet! But in the end that’s not up to me. Everything is finite. I will just enjoy every moment that I’m here.”

While the current era of the Mitchells is in turmoil, fans of the family recently got a welcome boost as Jaime Winstone recently teased that the flashback episodes – in which she portrayed a young Peggy Mitchell – may not be concluded.

“We’ll have to see! You know, we have to keep secrets,” teased the actor. “But obviously, there’s so much still to explore with Peggy. What Barbara [Windsor] did with her was such a point in her life. I think, where I’m at, it’d be really great to explore that.”

“I’d love to go in deeper as to why Peggy was as hard as she was. There’s got to be a soft [side] somewhere and obviously we’ve done the flashback episodes. So to fill in those gaps, yeah, it’d be very interesting.”