EASTENDERS star James Alexandrou has revealed the reason why he never returned to the soap as Martin Fowler.
The actor, 36, played the market stall holder between 1996 and 2007.
Martin was played by Jon Peyton Price for 11 years before James took over the role when he was just 11 himself.
During his stint on the BBC soap, James appeared in a whopping 707 episodes before he decided that he wanted to pursue different things.
His alter-ego wasn’t killed off when he left the show 15 years ago, but he realised that he didn’t want to reprise the role.
James previously said: “They were talking for a while about me going back.
“They made it very clear that they were bringing the character back and they would really like me to go back, but it just wasn’t right for me at the time.
“The attraction in it would be to see some of my old mates and have a bit of nostalgia, and that wasn’t enough at the time to do it.”
James was involved in a number of gripping storylines including his relationship with Sonia Fowler and running down Jamie Mitchell in a car crash.
But when Martin made his comeback to Walford in 2014, the residents were left shocked he had a brand new face.
James Bye resumed the EastEnders storyline, where the character’s relationship with Stacey Slater flourished.
Since his stint on EastEnders, James has appeared in a number of TV shows including Missing, You, Me & Them, Casualty and most recently, The Prey.
He’s also appeared in a number of theatre productions.
James regularly shares what he gets up to on social media.
He describes himself as a “director, actor and writer” on his Instagram bio.
