{"id":329453,"date":"2026-03-05T02:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329453\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T02:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:06:08","slug":"eastenders-welcomes-new-characters-to-albert-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329453\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders welcomes new characters to Albert Square"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>EastEnders has announced that actors Joshua Vaughan and Dawn Steele have joined the cast of the BBC soap, playing Zoe&#8217;s long-lost son and Jasmine&#8217;s twin brother, Josh, and Josh&#8217;s adoptive mother, Sandra Goodwin.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sandra turns up seeking answers about Jasmine, unveiling new details from her past and insight into Sandra&#8217;s version of events,&#8221; said EastEnders.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to Sandra, Josh has followed her to Walford looking for her, not knowing his birth family are closer than he realises.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Having garnered a fantastic career that spans over 25 years, including prominent roles in Holby City and Wild at Heart, Dawn Steele joins for a short stint as Walford welcomes her and rising-star talent Joshua Vaughan to the cast.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With Jasmine&#8217;s future hanging in the balance and emotions at an all-time high, their arrival is set to cause repercussions for everyone involved.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Actor Joshua Vaughan said of his new role: &#8220;It has been incredibly humbling to join the cast of EastEnders and find myself at the intersection of the iconic Trueman and Slater families.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Getting to work alongside such legacy actors is a masterclass, and I&#8217;ve learned so much from them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Josh is a big ball of love, and I&#8217;m so excited for the audience to see the drama unfold as he arrives onto the Square.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0020a4d9-614.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dawn Steele added: &#8220;I was thrilled to be asked to play the role of Sandra, who arrives and throws a spanner or two into the Square!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was so great to go back to Elstree (BBC studios) after the end of Holby City.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Lots of the same crew (and a few cast!) are still there, so it was joyful to see them all again.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everyone was so welcoming, and I really enjoyed learning new ways of filming; it really is a well-oiled machine, and everyone works so hard.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But it was Sandra&#8217;s storyline and character that really made me want to do it, and I&#8217;m sure viewers will be thrilled with another piece of the puzzle ahead of the trial.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sandra&#8217;s timing couldn&#8217;t be better, or worse&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>EastEnders&#8217; Executive Producer, Ben Wadey, said: &#8220;I&#8217;m thrilled to welcome Dawn Steele and Josh Vaughan to EastEnders as they step into the roles of Sandra and Josh Goodwin.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since her return last year, Zoe has searched for her long\u2011lost son, and we&#8217;re excited to finally add the missing pieces to her story.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As always with the Slaters and Truemans, nothing is ever straightforward, and the arrival of Sandra and Josh promises even more drama for Walford at a pivotal moment as Jasmine\u2019s trial begins.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>EastEnders airs on RT\u00c9 One and BBC One Monday to Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/entertainment\/soaps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Click here for more on the soaps.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/player\/series\/eastenders\/SI0000000492?epguid=AQ10011881-25-0130\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Catch up on EastEnders on the RT\u00c9 Player.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EastEnders has announced that actors Joshua Vaughan and Dawn Steele have joined the cast of the BBC soap,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-329453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}