From East to West

You may not expect the residents of the fictitious London borough of Walford to get much of a mention outside of magazines dedicated to Soapland. However, if rumours circulating are to be believed, it would seem one of them may soon be featuring regularly in the Hollywood gossip columns. After the unexpected exit of Peter Beale from EastEnders earlier this week, following the shock revelations surrounding the death of his sister Lucy, there have been a few surprises emerging as to the reasons for actor Ben Hardy – who has portrayed the Albert square heartthrob for the last three years – leaving the soap. According to a number of different sources the young actor is about to be cast in a ‘significant’ role in the next instalment of the ‘X-Men’ film franchise which is currently in pre-production with a slated release date for May of next year. If true he will be starring in X-Men: Apocalypse alongside such Tinseltown luminaries as Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum and Hugh Jackman. Considering the number of soap stars who have tried and failed in the past to cross over from the small to big screen, let’s hope for Ben’s sake that he doesn’t find himself before long back propping up the bar of the Queen Vic.