EastEnders'original Martin Fowler actor who left the soap 17 years ago reveals his return to Walford

Описание: EastEnders' original Martin Fowler actor, who left the soap 17 years ago, reveals his return to WalfordEastEnders' original Martin Fowler actor, who left the soap 17 years ago, has revealed he made a return to Walford recently.

But James Alexandrou said that instead of picking up again as Martin, who is now played by James Bye, this time he was behind the camera.

'I kind of did go back recently, I shadowed as a director,' James told Johnny Seifert on Secure The Insecure Podcast. The actor, 38, took on the role almost two decades after he left the soap - where he began his acting career as a child on the square in 1996.

While on EastEnders, James played Martin, who was married to Natalie Cassidy's character Sonia, and he left the role in 2007 aged 21.
In 2014, James Bye took over the role of Martin, with the original actor revealing he had turned down the opportunity to return.

Explaining what a shadow director does, James 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.'

Discussing the differences between acting and directing for a soap, he said directing is far more 'intense'.

'Something like Enders, you might shoot some 25 or 30 pages a day, on a film, you might be shooting two,' James said.

'[It's] kind of a nostalgia thing going back. And I think I'd have a lot of fun doing it.'

He then joked about directing his former on-screen wife Natalie.

James said: 'You know, I just have to demand that I would have to direct Natalie Cassidy because that would be the most fun thing to do.'

James ruled out ever returning to the show as Martin, saying the door was 'closed'.

'Coming back as Martin? I don't know, that door's closed in my head.