EastEnders' Peter star shares hidden family link to BBC soap ahead of return

14 August 2023 , 23:01

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EastEnders' Peter star shares hidden family link to BBC soap ahead of return

Thomas Law secretly returned to EastEnders as Peter Beale in June but the star had a secret connection to the soap, despite walking away in 2010.

The 30-year-old who went on to appear in The Bay as well as taking on multiple theatre roles but admits he was still overjoyed to be asked to return to EastEnders. Hatfield-born Thomas made the decision to walk away n November 2010, with his final scenes airing just one month later.

But earlier this year, he left viewers speechless when he returned alongside Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) and Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), who were secretly living in France. But despite being away for over a decade, the show never left his family as Thomas disclosed an unlikely connection.

Reflecting on keeping his return a secret, Thomas said: "I was filming another job at the time so keeping it a secret was ok, as I couldn't tell anyone I was working with there. When you're working on these jobs, you don't really get to socialise much anyway. My mum and sister both work at EastEnders so they found out two weeks into me knowing as they heard a few whispers which they of course had to keep a secret too."

Peter Beale (Thomas Law) is set to return to Albert Square (BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

Thomas last appeared in Walford back in 2010 (BBC)

But after a decade away from the soap, it could've been difficult to step back into Peter's shoes although Thomas found it "easier" as he returned "more mature and put together", while the character was last seen fleeing Albert Square after stealing gran Kathy Beale's (Gillian Taylforth) life fortune. He commented: "I played Peter for such a long time so I felt like I really knew him but Adam and Michelle made it easy for me to get back into the role too as I had to harness onto the fact that Peter just really loves his mum and dad. That was pretty easy for me to do because I do love them both."

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Despite Michelle playing his on-screen mum, Thomas had never worked with Collins as she originally departed the show in 1998. It was believed that Cindy had died in childbirth while locked up for shooting Ian. Thomas said: "She's so strong at what she does and it really shows when we're on set – she'll pull me aside to run a scene before we film which I love as everyone will then feel comfortable when filming. Adam is like a second dad to me so I’m loving working with him again – I'm a bit taller than him now so he has to get on his tip toes!"

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Daniel Bird