{"id":506202,"date":"2026-06-18T14:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/506202\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:24:09","slug":"eastenders-star-teases-major-gray-atkins-changes-in-return-storyline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/506202\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders star teases major Gray Atkins changes in return storyline"},"content":{"rendered":"

EastEnders spoilers<\/a> follow.<\/p>\n

EastEnders star Toby-Alexander Smith has teased potential changes for his character Gray Atkins upon his return. The serial killer was put behind bars in 2022 following a murder spree, which came after a harrowing domestic abuse storyline that saw him kill wife Chantelle.<\/p>\n

The character is set to return for a cameo<\/a> on the soap soon, with the actor now teasing whether prison has altered Gray at all.<\/p>\n

\"gray<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

“Gray was a brilliant character,” he told The Mirror<\/a>. “It was a gift to play Gray and it’ll be fascinating to know what four years in prison would do for someone like him.<\/p>\n

“His identity was very much, you know, control and power and very manipulative. Being in prison would very much strip a lot of that identity. So it was fascinating to tap into that psychology.”<\/p>\n

Reflecting further on playing the role, Toby-Alexander admitted it “was pretty heavy the first time around”.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, we dealt with the domestic abuse storyline and then there was some more sort of heightened curveballs and more deaths, which was very heavy too, but a gift for an actor,” he added. “I felt very challenged doing that.”<\/p>\n

\"gray<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: EastEnders icon Gillian Taylforth makes Instagram debut as co-stars celebrate<\/a><\/p>\n

The soap appears to be setting up Gray’s return with the emergence of his grandmother<\/a> (and son Jordan’s great-grandmother) Sheila, who has been secretly sending cheques for her great-grandchild after he was hit by Ian Beale’s car.<\/p>\n

Scenes this evening see things escalate with a big cliffhanger<\/a> related to Gray, which suggests she may not be telling the whole truth about her claimed lack of contact with her grandson.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Read more EastEnders spoilers on our dedicated homepage<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating the global phenomenon of BTS, is here! Buy this ultimate fan guide in newsagents or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EastEnders spoilers follow. EastEnders star Toby-Alexander Smith has teased potential changes for his character Gray Atkins upon his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[131124,1105,216388,1107,93,61,60,184510,1135,216387,131322,282],"class_list":["post-506202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-08a5140c-925a-4c37-b56b-62ffddc8f62d","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-eastenders-star-teases-major-gray-changes-in-return-story","tag-subsection-eastenders","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506202","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=506202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}