EASTENDERS star Michelle Ryan has shared a cryptic snap of her burning scripts for the BBC One soap after backlash over her return as Zoe Slater.

It was revealed in May that actress Michelle, 41, would return to EastEnders 20 years after Zoe was last seen on Albert Square.

Her comeback storyline came to a dramatic head during the soap’s Christmas Day episodes, when the character handed herself in for murder.

Many fans were left seriously underwhelmed with the festive specials and took to social media to slam them as the “worst ever”.

Now Michelle has revealed she’s been burning scripts, calling it “cathartic”.

Alongside a snap of the paperwork in flames in a bin, she wrote: “Something cathartic about clearing out old paperwork, no need to hang on to early drafts of scripts that no longer serve the story, nor notebooks that hold a worn out narrative.”

Michelle added: “Just don’t get too close to the flames.”

She later confirmed she was back on set, sharing a photo with her on-screen mum Jessie Wallace.

Michelle wrote: “Back to work today. Wishing everyone a good week back.”

EastEnders’ Christmas episodes featured a shock death as Anthony Trueman was killed amid Chrissie Watts’ return after revealing herself as behind Zoe Slater’s stalker ordeal.

Chrissie revealed that she had met Zoe’s daughter Jasmine by chance at the hospital after Zoe was shot and then manipulated her into stalking Zoe in a convoluted plot.

But her big confrontation with Zoe fell flat, with her revenge plan appearing to just be gloating at Zoe in front of Jasmine.

Zoe, meanwhile, ending up handing herself into the police for killing Anthony, despite being knocked unconscious by him.

After years of huge Christmas successes, this year’s drama left fans utterly furious.

One wrote: “Are you being serious that was the worst episode in Xmas history.”

A second said: “The worst Christmas episode ever.”

Another added: “Worse Christmas episode ever. New Years episode better make up for that shower of 💩.”