{"id":396366,"date":"2026-01-29T06:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/396366\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T06:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:13:10","slug":"eastenders-joel-marshall-actors-real-age-confirmed-leaving-fans-confused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/396366\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders’ Joel Marshall actor’s real age confirmed leaving fans ‘confused’"},"content":{"rendered":"

EastEnders viewers were left stunned after discovering actor Max Murray is older than his soap character Joel Marshall<\/p>\n

Angie Quinn Screen Time Reporter <\/p>\n

16:50, 28 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

Joel attacks Vicki in EastEnders<\/p>\n

The trial of troubled teenager Joel Marshall has begun on EastEnders<\/a> following his brutal assault on Vicki Fowler.<\/p>\n

The BBC<\/a> soap saw Joel, portrayed by Max Murray, arrive in Albert Square last year with his father Ross (Alex Walkinshaw) and Ross’s partner Vicki (Alice Haig).<\/a><\/p>\n

It wasn’t long before the youngster’s deeply misogynistic attitudes surfaced, revealing his disturbing belief that abusing women, both physically and emotionally, was acceptable behaviour.<\/p>\n

When Vicki confronted Joel about his troubling conduct and views towards women, he pushed her to the floor and subjected her to a vicious assault while filming the distressing incident on his phone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New cryptic soap spoilers for next week have teased drama across Emmerdale, EastEnders and Coronation Street(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\n

Police subsequently arrested Joel and remanded him to a young offenders institution pending trial, which finally commenced on Wednesday (January 28), reports OK!<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the court proceedings, the teenager displayed no signs of regret over the attack on Vicki, leaving viewers questioning whether Joel will be convicted.<\/p>\n

Max Murray has received widespread acclaim from EastEnders viewers for his portrayal of the troubled character Joel, prompting interest in the actor’s actual age.<\/p>\n

Whilst Joel is portrayed as a 15-year-old secondary school pupil, Max is actually 18 and will turn 19 in August 2026.<\/p>\n

Last year, Max’s mother, Gina Murray, an actress whose credits include The Bill, Doctors, Judge John Deed, and Witless, marked her son’s special birthday with a collection of touching photographs.<\/p>\n

Gina took to social media to celebrate, writing: “Max is 18! Happy birthday! Now both my boys are men! ….Enjoy this special day and may it lead to many, many more fabulous days ahead.”<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/p>\n

Joel Marshall is currently facing trial for attacking Vicki Fowler in EastEnders(Image: BBC\/Jack Barns\/Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\n

She continued: “I feel so very fortunate to have TWO gorgeous young men I can call my own. Remember that you always make me proud…. In good times AND in the more difficult ones…. I Love You, Max @maxmurray.official.”<\/p>\n

However, amid the birthday celebrations, some EastEnders viewers found themselves confused about Max’s actual age. Social media lit up with remarks such as: “He’s 16, his mother is also an actress.”<\/p>\n

Another viewer questioned: “Joel is 14\/15\/16, his real age is 15-18?”, whilst someone else pondered: “Max Murray must be around 16?”<\/p>\n

One fan jokingly scolded a photograph of Max in character as Joel, commenting: “You aren’t old enough to be in a pub! Get out! @ginamurraywoman tell him! I’m not willing to age, so neither can Max!”<\/p>\n

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer<\/p>\n

**For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip<\/a>** website**<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EastEnders viewers were left stunned after discovering actor Max Murray is older than his soap character Joel Marshall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[243,1078,96,2534,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-396366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc","tag-eastenders","tag-entertainment","tag-soap-operas","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}