EASTENDERS villain Gray Atkins might be gone – but you can still pay for him to menace your friends. The actor who played the sinister solicitor, Toby-Alexander Smith, 32, is offering video messages online for £40 a go. Looking much more cheerful than his cold-eyed killer character, he announced today that he had joined Cameo. […]
EASTENDERS villain Gray Atkins might be gone – but you can still pay for him to menace your friends.
The actor who played the sinister solicitor, Toby-Alexander Smith, 32, is offering video messages online for £40 a go.
Looking much more cheerful than his cold-eyed killer character, he announced today that he had joined Cameo.
The service is used to put celebrities in touch with their fans and make messages for birthday surprises and the like.
Dressed in a jumper and with none of Gray‘s trademark dead-eyed staring, he tells fans breezily: “Hello I’m Toby-Alexander Smith and I’m now on Cameo.
“If you’d like to receive a personalised video message from me please send in your requests and I look forward to seeing them. Cheers.”
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Soap viewers rejoiced as Gray was arrested after killing wife Chantelle, Tina Carter and Kush Kazemi.
And some even applauded EastEnders for making sure he faced the full weight of the law instead of being killed off.
Toby-Alexander has revealed he’s becoming a full-time dad to daughter Bonnie – who he shares with Emmerdale girlfriend Amy Walsh – after quitting the soap.
The actor also revealed he had no idea he would be in the soap for so long – initially signing up for a six month stint as domestic abuser Gray.
But it all changed when Gray murdered his wife Chantelle in shocking scenes that saw him push her onto an upturned knife in a dishwasher.
“When I first took the job, I thought it was a six month storyline and then we got another six months in and it was like ‘great, this is brilliant’ and then I started to understand what we were doing,” he said.
“It was a really slow build to the Gray and Chantelle domestic abuse storyline. Obviously then the pandemic hit and threw a bit of a curveball.
“And then we did the Gray killing Chantelle episode and that for me was the ending for Gray.
“I really did start counting my days – I thought that was the end and he would ultimately get caught and that would be that.”
But then Gray went on to murder Tina Carter and Kush Kazemi and become Walford’s latest serial killer.
Toby added: “I was quite surprised. I did not expect it to go that way. But it’s meant that I’ve been able to explore a lot more of Gray’s character.
“I’ve really enjoyed letting the storyline play out to discover more of Gray’s past.”
However one thing he won’t miss is the abuse he’s received from viewers who can’t tell him apart from his character.
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“It’s funny with soap because when you’re playing a character for three years in people’s living rooms, there’s a lot more of a relatable connection that they feel towards the character,” he said.
“They get quite personal towards Gray. And a lot of them, for whatever reason, don’t seem to be able to differentiate between Gray and myself.
“You do get the odd message where you think ‘this is quite worrying that you think this person’s Gray’. But then a lot of the messages are directed at Gray and that’s great to see.”
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