Former EastEnders star Hannah Waterman makes her return to the soap world with a guest role on Home and Away today.

The actor, best known to soap fans for her role as Walford’s Laura Beale, appears in a tense episode of the Summer Bay drama.

Thursday’s Home and Away episode sees teen character Perri Hayes go on trial over the death of his father Carl.

Perri killed Carl in self-defence in the UK’s 2024 finale episode last November.

Carl, who’d violently abused Perri for years, tried to drown his son in Tane Parata’s backyard pool after Perri refused to carry out any further criminal jobs for him.

Perri fought back to save himself and Carl’s lifeless body was later found in the pool.

The evidence in the case looked damning for Perri, so the authorities decided to charge him with murder rather than manslaughter.

In today’s scenes, Hannah appears as the magistrate who oversees the emotional case in court.

Perri’s allies Tane and Rose Delaney both give evidence in his favour, but the prosecution lawyer is dismissive towards their claims.

The pressure then piles on Perri’s lawyer to find a way to get him off the hook – and quickly.

Hannah played the role of Laura on EastEnders between 2000 and 2004.

Her last UK-based role was on BBC One daytime soap Doctors in 2013 and she moved out to Australia the following year.

Hannah’s new soap role has already aired Down Under, as the UK Home and Away broadcasts are behind the Australian premieres by several weeks.

The magistrate will also feature in Friday’s episode.

Fans can see Hannah’s guest role right now on My5, today at 1.45pm on Channel 5 or at 6pm on 5STAR.