EastEnders stars to reunite after 20 years for exciting new project

A pair of iconic former EastEnders co-stars are teaming up once again for a new project. Though they were only on-screen together for a short time back in the 2000s, they'll be back in East London for a dark, Christmas-set comedy.

Louisa Lytton and James Alexandrou will be best known to millions as Ruby Allen and Martin Fowler respectively, and now they're set to star in the play Casserole – with Alexandrou also serving as one of the writers and directors.

Louisa was initially in Albert Square from 2005-2006, and James was part of the soap from 1996-2007. Their characters both went on to return, and were even romantically involved from 2019 onwards – but by that point, Martin was played by James Bye.

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Casserole will play at Playhouse East, a venue for which Alexandrou is a co-founder.

He said in a statement (via WhatsOnStage): "Casserole is our attempt to prove that independent theatre can be artist-led, accessible, commercially ambitious and genuinely excellent at the same time."

Lytton reportedly saw the play as an audience member when it debuted at the Arcola Theatre in 2024, and became keen to get involved in a subsequent staging.

Alongside Alexandrou, the show's writers are Kelly Flood and Dominic Morgan, and the synopsis for a previous run calls it "a blisteringly funny and emotionally raw one-act play exploring how grief causes people to hide from each other within a relationship".

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Lytton's most recent EastEnders stint concluded in 2025, following Martin's death in the live 30th anniversary scenes.

The drama in Walford is, of course, continuing apace, with Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) seen in today's episode suffering a heartbreaking meltdown.

She has been seen struggling to come to terms with the death of daughter Zoe (Michelle Ryan), whose body she discovered last month.

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.

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