EastEnders actor Max Bowden – who plays Ben Mitchell on the BBC soap – has teased a potential return to Walford, just six months after he quit the programme
Max Bowden has teased a return to EastEnders – just six months after her quit.
Max played Ben Mitchell for five years, before departing his role earlier this year. He appeared on Good Morning Britain today to talk about his new stage role – but revealed he would be up for a return to EastEnders if the storyline allowed.
Speaking about if he’d come back to the BBC soap, he said: “Never say never! I had a really amazing five years. I have so much gratitude for the show and I have several friends that I keep in contact with. I would never rule it out!”
It comes after Max admitted he was burned out from his time on the show.
Max played Ben Mitchell on the BBC soap (Image: BBC)
“The important thing was my time was ready. I was very tired, and like I said, I wasn’t me, I wasn’t. The Max sat in front of you today was kind of a ghost, and they recognised that – I recognised that,” he said.
“I did nearly six hundred episodes in five years, which is a hell of a lot, and it was time for a rest. The character was tired, I was tired, they [the producers] were probably tired of me being tired. From an honest perspective, I think yeah, a lot of it was that I needed to go for a bit. I needed to go work on me, get myself back to a place of really good mental health, focus on healing and also be a dad.”
Before his exit from the show, Max was involved in a storyline which saw Lola Pearce be diagnosed with a brain tumour.
“It laid a lot out on the table, and it exposed me to a lot of vulnerability which probably at the time I didn’t navigate well,” he said, “It was a tough old time, but you know what, I’m a lot stronger for it. That was definitely the hardest period of my professional life.”
Max’s own friend passed away from a undiagnosed brain tumour and he admitted it was tough to see art imitating life.
“This storyline has been the hardest I have ever had to deal with. 21 months ago I lost my best friend in the world to an undiagnosed brain tumour. Friday afternoon we were on the phone for an hour discussing Ronaldo’s United return, 24 hours later he went into a coma and never woke up. Coming to terms with this grief has been the most turbulent, overwhelming, impossible thing I have ever had to overcome, and telling this story with Lola has been a tough old ride but an incredibly rewarding one,” he said.
