Former Grange Hill star Lee MacDonald is heading to Albert Square with a new role in EastEnders.
The 50-year-old is best known for playing Zammo McGuire in the long-running BBC school drama from 1982 to 1987.
The actor, who currently runs a locksmith and key cutting business in South London, said that he was “so excited” to be making his return to the small screen.
“I am absolutely chuffed to bits and so excited to be briefly joining the cast of EastEnders,” he said. “I can’t say too much yet but watch this space. Top banana!”
The BBC has confirmed that MacDonald will feature in two episodes this spring, playing a bus driver named Terry who will stir up trouble for Danny Dyer’s Mick Carter.
His character will compete against Dyer’s in a radio competition to win tickets for a gig.
"Desperate to get the prized tickets for his beloved Linda, will Mick be able to clinch the prize or will Terry claim victory?" a BBC statement said.
MacDonald’s Grange Hill alter ego Zammo was the focus of one of the show’s most controversial headlines when he became addicted to heroin and eventually overdosed.
He and his cast mates then became the faces of an anti-drugs campaign aimed at youngsters, and released charity single Just Say No, which reached number five in the charts.
It proved such a hit that the Grange Hill stars were asked to perform the track at the Yankee Stadium in New York, and were invited to meet then-First Lady Nancy Reagan, who had started the Just Say No campaign in the United States, at the White House.
After appearing on the children’s show for five years, MacDonald had a string of television roles in series including Birds of a Feather and The Bill.
