Politics
EastEnders’ William Boyde reveals soap is begging him to ‘return from the dead’ as evil James Willmott-Brown
EASTENDERS legend William Boyde has revealed he is being begged by soap bosses to reprise his evil James Willmott-Brown role – despite appearing to be dead.
He returned briefly in 2017 after 25 years but says they want him back for more.
EastEnders legend William Boyde has revealed he is being begged by soap bosses to reprise his evil James Willmott-Brown role[/caption]
William said: “Last autumn, EastEnders called again. The producer had planned a Jacobean tragedy where I’d come to a sticky end.
“They needed to keep my return a secret so that no one could spill the beans and leak it to the press.
“My parts in the scripts were for a ‘Mr Echo’, also the name on my dressing-room door.”
Willmott-Brown became an infamous baddie in the Eighties with one particular storyline involving him raping Kathy Beale, played by Gillian Taylforth.
Willmott-Brown raped Kathy Beale, played by Gillian Taylforth[/caption]
He returned briefly in 1992 and then 2017 when he was left for dead in a hospital bed.
William told The Oldie magazine: “I was back for two months, ending with two great duff-duffs. In one, I take a huge bunch of flowers to Kathy, and remind her I have liver cancer and that she’s been my secret obsession.
Willmott-Brown became an infamous baddie in the Eighties[/caption]
“For a moment, she looks like she’s about to kiss me. Instead, she grabs me downstairs and says, ‘I’m going to get the sharpest knife and cut it off and serve it you in a sandwich.’ – pretty ripe for pre-watershed.
“I stumble off and have a heart attack in my office.
Willmott-Brown he was left for dead in a hospital in 2017[/caption]
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“In the second duff-duff, I’m in a hospital bed, tubes coming in at all angles, and my daughter rejects me, telling a nurse we’re not even related. I’m left dying in this hospital bed. Duff-duff.
“I’m not dead – so I could return. Not that you can’t come back even if you are dead – they just get another actor.
“EastEnders might want me back some time. It’s an enormous amount of fun playing a really horrible person. I’d rather play the villain than have lines like, ‘The element’s gone on the kettle’.”
