Hollyoaks announces Jeremy Edwards will return from the dead as Kurt Benson

Edwards, 49, was in the first ever episode of Hollyoaks and has always been one of the soap's most desirable men.

Kurt was believed to have died in a jet ski accident in 1999, but he made a series of appearances in dream sequences during Hollyoaks Later in 2013.

Kurt will stun the locals when he rides back into his hometown on his signature motorbike and share his first scenes with best friend Tony (Nick Pickard), who had given his friend up for dead more than two decades ago.

This may disappoint Pickard, as he recently revealed the former Hollyoaks star he wanted back and it wasn't Edwards. Is that the reason for this reaction when Kurt arrives?

Where has the heartthrob been hiding all these years? Hollyoaks hasn't explained where Kurt has been, but he could be back to help his best friend, Tony, who is currently under the "manipulation" of his father Edward Hutchinson (played by Joe McGann), dishevelled, living in a caravan and on the brink of divorce from wife Diane.

It's clear that Tony needs the support of his best friend. But are there other reasons why Kurt has returned to the village?

Back in the '90s, Kurt was the focus of ardent female attention on and off screen. He had a deadly rivalry with villain Rob Hawthorne (Warren Derosa) and escaped an attempted murder charge. Kurt went on to marry lovely Ruth Osborne (Tony’s sister, played by Terri Dwyer) but, of course, being Hollyoaks the young love was never going to last.

Kurt had an affair with Katie Patrick (Natasha Symms), which led to Kurt and Ruth's divorce and, soon, his exit from the soap.

Edwards progressed to BBC One's Holby City where he played nurse Danny Shaughnessy in the medical drama from 1999-2003. He subsequently appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in 2005, coming fourth, and Dancing on Ice in 2009, where he left the ITV show early in the competition and has popped up in a variety of talk shows, variety shows and assorted dramas in subsequent years.

It's not exactly clear when Edwards will rejoin Hollyoaks, but the 25th anniversary falls on Friday 23rd October.

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