A legendary Emmerdale character has returned to the village - six years after being 'killed off' the soap.

Earlier this month, viewers were gobsmacked when a familiar face reappeared in the Corriedale crossover - despite their apparent demise.

Graham Foster - played by Andrew Scarborough - was back in Emmerdale itself during Monday's (January 19) episode.

He watched from a distance as Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) taunted Laurel Thomas' son, Arthur (Alfie Clarke).

It was the first of special episodes revealing how villain Ray died - with the circumstances currently shrouded in mystery. 

In Corriedale, Graham featured as a mysterious hooded figure before viewers discovered who it was.

Adding to the intrigue, he had a woman tied up in his van, who escaped during the chaos. 

This woman was later revealed as Jodie Ramsey (Olivia Frances Brown), the sister of Coronation Street's Shona Platt (Julia Goulding).

He later watched over protegé and foster son Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) as the latter recovered in hospital.

Six years ago, Graham was seemingly killed by Pierce Harris (Jonathan Wrather), the rapist ex-husband of his girlfriend Rhona (Zoe Henry).

Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw has confirmed that Graham is back on a full-time basis.

She said: 'A familiar face is returning to the village full-time.

'None other than Graham Foster will make a sensational comeback.

'His return will have massive repercussions for both Kim, with whom he shares a complex love-hate relationship, and Rhona, who was about to run away with him.

'Graham will explain exactly what happened six years ago when he was ‘killed’, but the question will be whether Joe can ever forgive his father figure for allowing him to believe he was dead.'

In Tuesday's (January 20) episode, Graham revealed the circumstances around his 'death' to Rhona .

Graham had someone inside the police force - DI Dent (Linda Armstrong) - who subsequently paid people to cover up his 'death'.

Due to his SAS background, Graham knew how to appear dead when Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) and Priya Sharma (Fiona Wade) found him.

Neither of the pair checked his pulse, while the police and forensic teams knew how to make it seem that Graham was murdered.

Once stashed away at a safe house, he next planned to 'take down' evil Pierce - but this never came to pass.

While Graham was there, he realised he'd lost Rhona 'for good' and drowned his sorrows with whisky.

He got so drunk that an old SAS friend put him on the ferry - and that his mate shared it was too late to act against Pierce, as he'd been arrested. 

Furious by his deception, Rhona proceeded to reveal the torment evil Pierce went on to put both her and Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick) through.

Not to mention, Rhona's husband Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) having served time in prison for the 'murder'.

Graham discovered what Pierce had done to Rhona and Vanessa through tabloid newspapers - and that his friend had lied about the villain being caught.

Fast forward to the present day, his work now involves 'fixing things the police can't'. 

In this case, a 'powerful man' hired Graham to dispose of a problem and learned of his true nature as a trafficker.

He found out April's name was involved and then realised that he was needed to act.

Graham is still to come face-to-face with Joe and former wife Kim Tate (Claire King) - but just how will this play out?

Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.