Dee made a brief return on 9 January 2017, in a series of dream sequences experienced by her former husband Toadfish Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney).

[4][5] Dee became an audience favourite, so the Neighbours producers decided to make her a regular cast member and offered West a new contract.

"[6] Shortly after her arrival, Dee begins dating Joel Samuels (Daniel MacPherson) and their relationship progresses slowly.

[7] MacPherson said their relationship was "a little more lust than love" and when Dee introduces him to her best friend, Carrie Clark (Vanessa Rossini), Joel is instantly attracted to her.

[7] Joel tries to keep his feelings for Carrie a secret, as he does not want to hurt Dee, but MacPherson commented that it was not an easy thing to do and the truth would come out in the end.

[11] West enjoyed the challenge that the plot brought her, saying "I was shocked when I first read the storyline, but I thought it was so dramatic that two best friends would be divided by a man.

[14] In her final storyline, Dee married her housemate and friend Toadfish Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) in a "romantic ceremony", which ended in tragedy when Toadie accidentally drove their car off a cliff and into the sea.

He told Bridget McManus and Scott Ellis of The Age that he was unsure if West would return to the role, and added that the writing team would have to come up with a different plot to the one that brought Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) back in 1996, following his disappearance in 1991.

[16] On 15 September 2016, Tiffany Dunk of News.com.au reported that West had reprised her role thirteen years after Dee's supposed death.

"[18] In an interview with Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy, West said she had been asked to return to the show several times, but she had always been busy with her family and other acting work.

[19] It was important to West that Dee's return storyline was plausible and while she was not initially aware of all the details, she thought that it was "really topical" and "juicy".

[26][27] On 5 July 2019, the show resolved the mystery of Dee's fate when she meets her lookalike Andrea Somers in "a dramatic showdown" on a cliff top in Byron Bay.

West stated, "the intervening 17 years have been very difficult and have changed the fibre of who she is, but at the end of the day, she's still that cheery, funny, well-meaning humanitarian minded Dee that we all came to love.

[34] Dee and her friend Vanessa Bradshaw (Julieanne Tait) meet Joel Samuels and Toadfish Rebecchi in a bar.

This comes to a climax when Joel fakes a letter from a noted art gallery, asking to put on an exhibition of Dee's work.

She briefly dates new housemate Stuart Parker (Blair McDonough) and then his army friend Ray Milsome (Tom Meadmore), the latter of which tries to force himself on her but stops when Nina Tucker (Delta Goodrem) arrives.

Thirteen years later, Toadie and his new wife Sonya Rebecchi (Eve Morey) are scammed by a woman named Andrea Somers (West), who looks identical to Dee.

After the accident, Cecile's boyfriend, Riley Cooper (Lliam Murphy), rescued Dee and helped her start a new life as Karen, safe from the Zantucks.

Constable Mark Brennan (Scott McGregor) discovers that the attempt on Dee's life was actually meant for Andrea, who dated one of the Zantucks.

Still grieving for his wife Sonya, who had passed away due to ovarian cancer, Toadie panics when they kiss and Dee returns to Byron Bay.

She supports Toadie as he lodges an appeal regarding Elly's sentence, and later discovers that Andrea was involved in the scheme for Elly to lose custody of her daughter, Aster Conway (Isla Goulas, Scout Bowman) after Aster's grandmother, Claudia Watkins (Kate Raison), paid her to start a riot in the prison.

Furious, Dee berates Andrea for feigning emotions to secure a closer relationship with her for a personal advantage and requests that the latter stop acting so heartless towards others.

Owen Campbell (Johnny Ruffo) later manipulates Dee into coming to visit Heather in the prison garden, where he drugs her in order for Andrea to impersonate her again.

"[39] The BBC said Dee's most notable moments were "When Darcy discovered she was secretly pregnant to him and had lost the child" and "Being killed on her wedding day.

[41] In 2007, Australian newspaper the Herald Sun placed Dee's death from the car accident at number three on their list of Neighbours Top Ten moments.

One of the soap's most loved characters, Toadie, was having the time of his life after marrying Dee, but tragedy struck as they drove off to their honeymoon, probably in Mildura.

[43] They said, "Happiness turns to tragedy when Toadie (Ryan Maloney) and Dee (Madeleine West) drive off a cliff on their wedding day and she is killed.

"[44] Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy expressed his surprise at Dee's apparent return in 2016, saying "it's the Neighbours news we never thought we'd hear and we couldn't be more excited about it".

Yes, we know some of the details don't quite add up, but the final twist – that Dee and Andrea are actually twins – is one of the most bonkers and brilliant things we've ever seen in soap.

Journalist Adam Beresford described her as a "sweet natured nurse" who was "due a happy ending" and viewers always hoped she would return from the dead.