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Grant Mitchell has been voted as the soap character most television viewers want to see back on their screens.

The EastEnders hard man, played by Ross Kemp, was picked by one in five soap fans asked who they would most like to see make a comeback. Coronation Street legend Hilda Ogden took second place, with 13% of the votes, and the Street's Reg Holdsworth came third, with 8%.

Home Digital TV, which commissioned the survey, said: "Grant Mitchell is the classic character the public love to hate. But the popularity of Hilda and Reg in the poll suggests that soap viewers are also looking for something more than sensational bad boys.

"The results show that soap fans are craving the quirky characters that can inject some humour into soaps as well as create drama."

When asked for their favourite soap comeback, almost one third of viewers picked Sharon Watts' return to EastEnders as the new joint landlady of the Queen Vic.

Harold Bishop's return to Neighbours after being washed out to sea and suffering amnesia came second, with 14% of the vote.

In third place, with 12%, was Raquel Watts returning to Coronation Street from Kuala Lumpur to ask Curly for a divorce and tell him he had a baby daughter.

The survey of more than 1,000 people was carried out to coincide with Dirty Den's much-hyped return to EastEnders.

The Top 10 most wanted soap comebacks are:

1: Grant Mitchell, EastEnders, 29%

2: Hilda Ogden, Coronation Street, 13%

3: Reg Holdsworth, Coronation Street, 8%

4: Kim Tate, Emmerdale, 7%

5: Melanie Owen, EastEnders, 5%

6: Charlene Mitchell, Neighbours, 5%

7: Simon Wicks, EastEnders, 4%

8: Frank Butcher, EastEnders, 4%

9: Dan Sullivan, EastEnders, 3%

10. Bet Lynch, Coronation Street, 3%