BBC EastEnders’ Martin Fowler star James Bye breaks silence over struggle with wife after soap exit

BBC EastEnders’ Martin Fowler star’s wife shared traumatic pregnancy story as feared it would end.

BBC EastEnders waved goodbye to James Bye during the 40th anniversary live episode, when his character of Martin Fowler was killed off.

Following his exit from the soap, he sat down with his wife, Victoria, and the couple opened up about their family life struggles.

The two have four children together, Edward, 10, Louis, eight, Hugo, five, and Rufus, one, but their family unit came after several miscarriages.

Before Rufus came along, the couple was concerned about whether or not they would be able to have a child again.

Rufus was a difficult labour for Victoria, with his heart rate dropping, which almost sparked an emergency C-section.

Speaking on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, Victoria recalled: “Because of the previous miscarriages with this baby, the whole way through the pregnancy, as I said, you’re constantly waiting for it to end every day. I’m going, ‘This is when it’s going to end. Like we’ve got him here and this is when it’s going to end.

“And then we heard this wail and just, thank God, everything was fine, and they placed him on us, and that was it.”

James also spoke candidly about his own concerns, as he was worried about how they would manage time with another child ahead of Rufus being conceived.

The ex-EastEnders star said: “I’d say that’s one of the hardest parts of being a parent of a large family, is we had this conversation so many times about, do we have one more?

“This is obviously before. And my biggest concern is that, do we have time in the day? “Like how do you split your time?”

With Martin Fowler’s exit, Albert Square is now in mourning, with residents preparing for Martin’s funeral.

Surprises are in store, though, as the day of reflection will see the return of Vicki Fowler, who has been absent from Walford since 2004.

Jetting back over to Britain from Australia, Vicki is sporting a very different look from how viewers remember her, as she will now be played by actress Alice Haig, taking over from Scarlett Alice Johnson.

She won’t be alone either, as she will be bringing her new boyfriend Ross (Alex Walkinshaw) and his son Joel (Max Murray) with her.