CALLUM Halfway Highway is going to be caught in between lover Ben Mitchell and his brother Stuart in EastEnders.
The funeral director – who is played by actor Tony Clay in the BBC soap – slept with Ben Mitchell tonight after Ben opened up to him about murdered love Paul Coker.
But after the week they have had with Ben threatening him and Callum hitting back by asking his psychotic brother Stuart for help, the new lovers are on a collision course over the next few weeks.
Actor Tony revealed: “It wouldn’t be something I’d want to be in the way of! Put it that way! I think they should clear the square for that moment. I don’t know, again, we’ll have to wait and see. All it takes is one little, who will snap first, do you know what I mean?”
Stuart showed his nasty side again tonight by displaying worrying homophobic views towards his brother, seemingly convinced Ben was on a recruitment mission.
But Tony defended Stuart’s behaviour and insisted it was more of Stuart just trying to protect Callum in his own deranged way.
“I don’t know if it is Stuart’s homophobia,” he said.
“I think it’s a scare tactic. I think it’s a thing of you know, look, this is my territory sort of thing, do you know what i mean? I think it’s not necessarily like he’s going to go out and start telling people about how they should live their lives. It’s more about a ‘leave my brother alone’ sort of thing. I think that’s how he sees it, he’s doing the right thing.”
But with Ben and Halfway growing closer, Tony revealed it is because Callum can see more than just the villain in him.
He said: “There’s a human being in there. There’s not just a geezer that wants to cause chaos and havoc everywhere, there’s a real human side to him, a one that’s completely dropped his guard for him.
“The mask completely drops and it’s fully who he is. You know when Ben comes to afterwards maybe he wont feel the same? Maybe he’ll feel like he shouldn’t have let his guard down. And now there’s going to be consequences.”
And Tony is overjoyed with being trusted with such a major storyline.
He said: “To read it in the script was brilliant, it’s absolutely brilliantly written. It’s really really lovely, it’s a massive massive episode, I think it’s been great to be a part of, it’s lovely to be a part of the storyline, it’s great to be working with Max.
“And just to be trusted with it, is a lovely thing. It’s a delicate issue and I think that it’s got to be handled properly and it is. I think it’s great, it really is great. ”
And Tony thinks he is prepared for the inevitable fan attention that gay couples in soap attract.
Couples like Kate and Rana (Kana) in Coronation Street and Robert and Aaron (Robron) in Emmerdale have become all-emcompassing beasts that almost become bigger than the shows.
He said: “I think when you sign up to EastEnders you sort of kind of sign that part of yourself over a little bit. You know when you’re walking around Sainsbury’s someone might say something, but you’ve just got to be prepared for it, most of the time, people are absolutely lovely.
“So yeah, of course, obviously you’ll be prepared for people who might say something else or whatever, but it doesn’t matter.
“It’s about showing representation and diversity in what we do. I think it’s absolutely brilliant.
He added: “If the relationship between Callum and Ben does go there, or probably after tonight, you know it will my phone will be quite going off a lot.”
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