He reprised the role again in 2022 for the funeral of Dot Cotton (June Brown); Lofty appears in episode 6608, first broadcast on 12 December 2022.

George Holloway, nicknamed "Lofty" for his above-average height, serves in the Army but must leave because he suffers from chronic asthma; he settles in Walford and gets a job as a barman at The Queen Victoria public house.

Lofty struggles to see Michelle unhappy and chivalrously offers to marry her and help bring up her baby, Vicki, as his own.

However, on their wedding day, Michelle is visited by Den in secret, which makes her reconsider her options; she jilts Lofty at the altar, devastating him.

Over thirty years later in 2019, Lofty returns for the funeral of Dr. Harold Legg (Leonard Fenton), where he reunites with old friends, Dot Branning (June Brown), Mary Smith (Linda Davidson), Sharon Mitchell (Letitia Dean), and Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), and explains that he now owns 15 pubs across London.

[1] Lofty's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.

Holland and Smith liked that his physical appearance (gauche and childlike) made him stand out (they likened him to the accident-prone sitcom character, Frank Spencer).

He added, "Beneath the facade of his National Health glasses smoulders the fire and passion of a cold toilet seat.

Finally strong lights were shone into the eyes of the journalists and photographers, making them extremely angry, and they constantly tried to gain access to the grounds by breaking the security barrier and telling the production team that they were really extras needed inside the church.

[5] In 2009, when asked if there was a chance he would return as Lofty, Watt told Patrick McLennan of What's on TV: "I get the feeling that people think I'm ashamed of EastEnders; like it's some dirty thing in my past.

"[6] The BBC confirmed that Watt would reprise his role as Lofty, alongside Linda Davidson as Mary Smith, over 30 years after they departed, on 18 December.

[7] Executive consultant John Yorke invited Watt to reprise the role and described Lofty as a "hugely iconic character, and a central part of the show's DNA".

[7] He commented, "I have nothing but good memories from my time on EastEnders so it will be lovely to set foot back in Albert Square all these years later.

"[7] Speaking to the Metro about his return to filming, Watt said: 'We saw Letitia [Dean], Gill [Taylforth], June [Brown], Len [Fenton], some of the market stall holders are still the same people.

"'[8] In 1988, actor Kevin Kennedy who played Curly Watts in soap opera Coronation Street, which was EastEnders' biggest television rival, criticised the character of Lofty.

Steve Tooze of the Daily Mirror branded the character a "daft, clueless geek who married 'Chelle Fowler, even though she was pregnant with Dirty Den's baby, and was duly dumped for his kind-heartedness.

"[5] In 2020, Tooze's colleagues, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland, placed Lofty 76th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time and wrote that he was "cruelly betrayed" by Michelle.