EastEnders lines up Peter Beale return

Ian Beale’s son will be back on the Square in 2020.

With Ben Hardy making his mark in Hollywood, the role of Peter has unsurprisingly been recast with Dayle Hudson becoming the seventh actor to play the character.

“I am really grateful and excited to have the opportunity to work on such an institution of British television, alongside some incredible actors. Peter has been away for some time so I can’t wait to find out what he’s been up to and I’m very excited to see what the future holds for him.” – Dayle Hudson

Viewers last saw Peter in February 2015 when he left Walford to move to New Zealand with his pregnant girlfriend Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa). Peter was, at the time, reeling from the discovery that his little brother Bobby was the one who killed his twin sister Lucy and that his stepmother Jane had helped to cover it up.

Lauren later returned to Walford without Peter who was said to have gone off the rails in New Zealand. Ian (Adam Woodyatt) has since visited his son to try to heal the rift between them, while it was stated that Lauren had re-joined him in New Zealand with their son Louie after leaving the Square again in 2018.

Someone Peter hasn’t seen in recent years is Bobby (now played by Clay Milner-Russell) and it remains to be seen how they will be around each other following the circumstances of Lucy’s death.

“As soon as I met Dayle, I knew he’d be the one to bring Peter Beale back to Walford. Peter’s a young man with a big heart but a bruised soul and Dayle’s a talented actor who captures his complexity perfectly. I welcome him to the company and can’t wait to start working with him.” – Jon Sen, Executive Producer

Ben Hardy played the role of Peter between 2013-2015 and has since gone on to star in X-Men: Apocalypse and Bohemian Rhapsody. The character was also played by Thomas Law between 2006-2010, James Martin between 2004-2006, Joseph Shade from 1998 til 2004 and, in pre-school incarnations, by Alex Stevens and Francis Brittin-Snell.

Bobby was recently released from a Young Offenders Institute. How will Peter react to seeing him again?