Former EastEnders star Harry Reid has publicly shared his support for the soap's newest Ben Mitchell actor Max Bowden.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that former Waterloo Road star Max Bowden would be joining the cast of the BBC One soap as Ben Mitchell, replacing the most recent iteration of the character, Harry Reid, who left the show just over a year ago.

And now, Harry has reached out to Max on Twitter, welcoming him to the clan of Ben Mitchells and wishing him "the best of luck" with his new role.

"Mate, just wanted to wish you the best of the luck," Harry wrote. "Re-casting can be hard on us, but they will grow to love you! Enjoy Ben as much as I did! Welcome to the Clan... I anoint you Ben the 6th."

Not too long later, Max replied to the message, sharing that it meant a lot to him that he got in touch.

"Mate thank you so much, that honestly means a hell of a lot," Max wrote. "I hope I can give it as much brilliance as you did."

This isn't the first time Harry has publicly commented on the recast this week as he previously opened up to Digital Spy about the news, explaining that while he was shocked, he wasn't sad about it.

Kieron McCarron

"They told me that they were going to recast him about a week before it was announced," Harry told us. "To be honest, I was shocked because I didn't expect that they were going to recast the role. I was told that they weren't going to recast.

"But at the same time, it didn't upset me, which is what a lot of the fans are saying. One particular fan called Elizabeth, who's supported me a lot, posted, 'I hate to think that Harry will be sat there upset about it'. I'm not and that's what I want people to understand."

New EastEnders boss Kate Oates also explained to us why they decided to recast the role to bring Ben Mitchell back while speaking on the red carpet at the National Television Awards this week, saying it marks the start of a "whole new era".



"I just want to take the character in a different direction and that's why I've gone for somebody different," Kate said.

"I'm really excited by what we've been storylining. It does shine a light on a different facet of Ben and that's why we've gone somewhere else. It's a whole new era and that's what we want to emphasise."

EastEnders airs on BBC One.



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