BBC EastEnders icon confirmed to return to soap after 17 years

dailyrecord.co.uk:

James Alexandrou, who played the original Martin Fowler, has revealed he will soon be stepping foot back in Walford 17 years on from his exit as the 38-year-old takes on a new role on EastEnders.

The Call the Midwife star played Martin's character from 1996 until 2007 on the BBC soap, with it now being taken over by James Bye, who has portrayed the loveable character since 2014, reports the Mirror.However James won't be returning as an actor, as he confirmed he will be taking on the role of a shadow director nearly two decades on since he played the Albert Square legend - so he will undoubtedly have the experience under his belt.

Speaking to Johnny Seifert on Secure The Insecure Podcast, the soap star revealed: "I kind of did go back recently, I shadowed as a director."Expanding further on the role, he said: "What that means is you go and follow the director and see how they direct the show, and it just so happened that James Bye was on the day that I was shadowing, so I didn't know that he knew I was there."I think he apparently caught wind of it, and he came on to do a scene, and he kind of went: 'Oh, it's you!' and we just kind of had this...

it was a strange moment, it was a really strange moment, because we don't know each other at all, and the only thing that bonds us are these words on a page called Martin Fowler and it was a really nice moment." Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. James continued chatting about how "intense" soap directing is compared to film directing, as he joked that he would enjoy directing his former co-star, Natalie Cassidy, who plays Sonia Fowler on EastEnders.