Exclusive: EastEnders' Matthew James Bailey breaks silence on Craig's shock death

EastEnders star Matthew James Bailey has spoken out about the death of his character Craig Ingram after a huge week of episodes. Craig has been grooming Amy Mitchell as part of a harrowing storyline in recent months, with the pair even fleeing Walford last week to start a new life together.

This week, the situation escalated and Amy tried to contact her loved ones, but Craig arrived back at the bedsit and lost his temper. Amy took desperate action and hit Craig over the head with a candle holder, then left him for dead as she headed back to the Square.

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While Craig’s body hasn’t yet been discovered, this is the end for the villain after several months on the show. Matthew James Bailey, whose Hollyoaks character Ethan Williams was also killed off in 2024, joined us to exclusively chat about his latest soap death.

"I feel like I’m starting to get a reputation, following in the footsteps of the magnificent Sean Bean where he dies in everything!" Matthew remarked. "But I do think it’s extremely important for Craig to have his comeuppance. He is such a horrible character and I’m very happy to say goodbye to him, as I’m sure most of the British public are as well!"

Remarking on the shocking climax to Amy and Craig’s grooming story, Matthew said: “I’m very glad the story ends the way it does, I think the character has met a deserved end. We’ve worked with some incredible charities [Barnardo’s and End Violence Against Women].

"I hope we can spread enough awareness and give the audience enough information and enough red flags to recognise what manipulation and grooming looks like."

While Amy returned to her overjoyed family, she lied to the police about what happened with Craig. This story is presumably far from over for Amy, and Matthew was full of praise for his co-star Ellie Dadd.

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"It feels to me that this storyline has really transitioned Amy from a girl into womanhood," he explained, "with realising that these horrible things have happened to her and she’s been manipulated. I’m just so proud that I get to facilitate that arc.

"I can’t speak highly enough of Ellie. She’s just the most incredible actress and she deserves all the credit for how she played out those final scenes because she’s amazing."

Beyond the world of EastEnders, Matthew revealed that he has some new projects in the pipeline, one of which he will star filming next year.

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He said: "There’s a film coming up that I’m starting to shoot in February which I can’t say too much about, but I am very excited to be a part of that. It’s a true story and a relevant story that revolves around World War II and it is shooting in The Netherlands."

But after his successful stints in EastEnders and Hollyoaks, Matthew also said that he would like to complete his soap opera bucket list during his career.

"I’m going to tick off every soap there is!” he laughed. “That’s quite an exclusive group to be a part of. Maybe that should be a goal of mine. Even if I’m a supporting artist in some of them, where I can just walk around in the background just to see if anyone notices!"

EastEnders has been working on Amy's grooming storyline with support from Barnardo's and End Violence Against Women, with support and information available via their websites.

EastEnders airs on Mondays - Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.