Charlie Jones played Phil Mitchell’s son Ben on EastEnders for four years before the character was recast – and now the child star is all grown up and looks very different

EastEnders’ former child star Charlie Jones, who portrayed Phil Mitchell’s son Ben on the soap from 2006 to 2010, is now all grown up and looking quite different. The actor, now 28, has ditched his signature glasses and sports facial hair, a stark contrast to his younger self on the soap, and works using the name Charlie Chambers.

He continued his acting career after studying at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, and one of his notable roles was in the 2020 TV show Noughts + Crosses, where he played the character Danny for two episodes. He also starred in Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Story alongside Keegan-Michael Key and Hugh Bonneville. Most recently, he has appeared in the ITV detective show McDonald and Dodds as DC Samuel Goldie.

Charlie was actually the third actor to play Ben Mitchell on EastEnders. The son of Phil Mitchell and then-wife Kathy Beale, Ben was first played by Matthew Silver as a baby from 1996 to 1998, and then as a toddler by Morgan Whittle between 1999 and 2001. Ben was absent from the series for five years as Kathy moved to South Africa and took her son with her. Charlie then took on the role in 2006, playing Ben as he returned to Albert Square following the presumed death of Kathy and her new husband in a car crash (as fans know, Kath didn’t die and made a surprise return to the soap in 2015).

During his four-year stint on EastEnders, Charlie’s character endured some dark storylines. One of the most harrowing involved physical abuse by Phil’s new fiancee Stella, culminating in her dramatic fall from the roof of the Queen Vic on her wedding day, reports the Daily Star.

The trauma of Stella’s abuse led Ben to harm his little sister Louise, burning her arm in a similar way to how Stella had burnt him with a scalding hot teaspoon. He also attacked his friend Jordan with a spanner, leaving him with a fractured skull, an act that led to Ben being handed a five-month prison sentence. When Ben returned to Albert Square, Charlie was replaced by new actor Joshua Pascoe in the role.

Joshua was later replaced by Harry Reid, and was followed by Max Bowden who played Ben from 2019, making him the sixth actor to portray the iconic character. Max departed the soap earlier this year, and his final scenes as Ben were broadcast in March, when the character was extradited to the US for credit card fraud.