EastEnders villain reveals big career change a year after leaving BBC soap
EASTENDERS star Toby Alexander-Smith has revealed he has now ventured into script writing.
The 32-year-old quit the BBC soap last year after becoming a dad to daughter Bonnie with girlfriend Amy Walsh.
And now he’s busy working on a new project away from the camera.
Toby teased fans this week as he gave the first glimpse at it – writing: “Now to get this bad boy finished. #newproject #watchthisspace.”
The actor played serial killer Gray for three years but later opened up about his character being caught by police and carted off.
Speaking about his plans now he’s finished EastEnders, he said: “Changing nappies, breast pumps and not getting any sleep probably.
“It’s all good. I’m very happy using this time now just to be present with Amy and Bonnie and I’m just loving every second of it.
“Who knows what’s around the corner but for right now I’m very happy to just be a full-time dad.”
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 became Walford’s latest serial killer.