EastEnders star James Alexandrou, who originally played Martin Fowler in 1996, has returned to the soap in an unexpected role.
James shot to stardom after playing Martin Fowler for 11 years until 2007, before the role was recast to James Bye when the character was reintroduced in 2014.
He was at the centre of a number of dramatic storylines, including fathering a child with Sonia Jackson (Natalie Cassidy) who gave birth to their daughter when she was 15 and accidentally killing her fiancé, Jamie Mitchell (Jamie Ryder).
After being sent to prison for running Jamie over with his car, Martin went down the path of petty crime, until his marriage to Sonia turned his life around, although their relationship was often turbulent.
Martin eventually left the Square in 2007 when he and Sonia decided to go travelling following the tragic death of his mother, Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard) who he found dead in the snow on Christmas Day.
Now, James has returned to the soap after 17 years, but not as the troublesome son of Pauline and Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher) we know him as.
Speaking on Johnny Seifert's Secure The Insecure mental health podcast, James revealed all about his 'return' in a surprising role and a chance meeting with James Bye.
He told host Johnny: "I kind of did go back [to EastEnders] recently, I shadowed as a director, so 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' you know he's like, 'Oh, it's you,' and 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."
EastEnders airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on BBC iPlayer now.
