EastEnders Ben Mitchell star's ‘distancing’ ploy to film ‘difficult’ male rape scene

ok.co.uk:

Actor Max Bowden faced one of his toughest challenges yet when it came to filming next week's episodes of EastEnders. After a fallout with Callum, Ben returns to his wild ways.

But his flirting ends in a shocking rape ordeal as Lewis Butler won't take 'No' for an answer when Ben has a change of heart about sleeping with the Walford newcomer.

And the star reveals that he decided to keep away from actor Aidan O'Callaghan - who plays Lewis - in the run up to filming the traumatic scene, in a bid to get inside Ben's head and convey the trauma that his character goes through convincingly.

Get exclusive celebrity stories and fabulous photoshoots straight to your inbox withOK!'s daily newsletter . You can sign up at the top of the page. "I was probably a bit of an a**e really!" said Max when discussing approaching the tricky scenes in Ben's latest storyline. "I deliberately kept my distance from him for about six weeks, because I didn’t want to find myself in a position where we became close.