‘I’ve changed so much In five years’

James Bye looks back on his stint in and how bad boy Martin Fowler became an unlikely fan favourite

Viewers have been left understandably bereft by the lack of Eastenders on the box – the soap officially ran out of episodes in mid-june and won’t be back until September.

Luckily, the bigwigs over at Elstree Studios had a plan of action, namely repeating iconic episodes of years gone by, alongside interviews with the stars of the show, who are more than happy to take a walk down Walford’s memory lane.

Next up it’s the turn of James Bye, who plays Martin Fowler, and Davood Ghadami, who plays Kush Kazemi. The real-life besties will be joining host Stacey Dooley for Eastenders: Secrets From The Square, in which they’ll share stories from the set and discuss their characters’ journeys so far.

James joined the cast in 2014, when Martin returned to Albert Square after a seven-year break. (The role was previously played by James Alexandrou, who left the soap in 2007.) He’ll be telling viewers all about Martin’s unlikely ascent from Arthur and Pauline’s bratty son in the 90s to the deadly villain we see today. So we caught up with the 36-year-old actor to see how he felt about revisiting the past and what the future holds…

James, what’s been the best thing about filming

Secrets From The Square?

Apart from getting out of the house and seeing people, I think just looking back at the past. When you’re in the show, you don’t realise how quickly the time goes. I’ve been there for five and a half years and when you start looking back at the clips, you realise how much you’ve done. It was quite a nice feeling to see that.

What were some of the standout moments for you?

Just seeing yourself on telly five years ago and how much you’ve changed. Davood hasn’t changed that much, but I have. I mean,

I’ve had two more children and lost a bit more hair. They showed a clip of Martin and Kush having a bit of a scrap, and that was quite nice to watch in the sense that we put a lot of effort into it. It was a late night and we did a lot of the stuff ourselves. In these shows you forget what you’ve done. It was quite nice to watch that back with Davood there, so we could chat about it.

What can fans expect to learn during the episode?

I hope they’ll see the real relationship between me and Davood. It’s not phoney, it’s a real on-screen/off-screen relationship. They might get a few teasers as to what’s coming up in the near future, little bits that they don’t see. And I took Stacey Dooley around the Square, which was nice, showing her and the audience parts of the market that you don’t get to see very often. What’s your favourite storyline that you’ve worked on?

The most challenging stuff has been more recent – the stuff with Ben Mitchell, I really enjoyed doing that. I had so much to

do, like being hung off bridges. I jumped in front of trains, we were fighting in warehouses, all that kind of stuff, which was quite full-on. It was very intense but I did enjoy working like that.

What are you most looking forward to once filming resumes?

I can’t wait to get back and see what Eastenders

has in store. I think where they left Martin before the break was quite an interesting position, with the hint that Martin and Ruby were getting it on. I’m excited to see where that goes – as well as the challenges we’re going to face as actors on the floor and directors with the social distancing. But I’m always up for a bit of a challenge, so I look forward to seeing how we’re going to do it as a team.

If you had to quarantine with any character from Eastenders,

who would it be?

It would be Mo. I love Mo – in real life and on screen. Obviously she’s a dodgy character on screen, but I don’t think you’re ever going to be bored by her. She might get on your nerves, but you could have a row with her and she wouldn’t be bothered by it. She’d move on.

Why do you think the show is still going so strong after 35 years?

It’s just a real mix of lovable characters that people recognise and learn to love, whether they’re a baddie, a goodie or a bit of a buffoon. The writing and performances are so realistic that people can relate to it. And fans just trust when Eastenders says we’re going to do something special. They believe it – and that’s why they stick around.

Secrets From The Square, Monday 6 July, 8pm, BBC1