EastEnders star James Bye appeared on The One Show on Monday night days after his character Martin Fowler made a dramatic exit during the 40th anniversary live episode

The One Show host Alex Jones was left with her head in her hands on Monday night’s show during a chat with EastEnders star James Bye. The actor, who played Martin Fowler for 11 years and was killed off during last week’s 40th anniversary live episode, appeared on the famous sofa to chat about his dramatic exit.

But during the interview, Alex had an embarrassing slip up when she called him by the wrong name.

Alex’s co-host Roman Kemp said: “Now James the live EastEnders episode didn’t pull any punches…” before a clip of Martin’s final dramatic scenes were shown when he was crushed by a metal beam during the Queen Vic explosion before dying of a cardiac arrest.

After the clip aired, Roman said: “It feels weird applauding it but it was great, it was unbelievable” as James confessed he had yet to watch it. Alex then chimed in: “Martin, Martin? I called you Martin! I did. James!” As the EastEnders star replied: “Right, that’s that then!” and pretended to storm off set.

Alex Jones is embarrassed when she slips up ( 
Image:
BBC)

Gathering herself together after putting her head in her hands, Alex continued: “I tell you what though, I mean the pressure isn’t it, not only are you having to die on screen, you’re dying live.”

James said: “I know, I know, listen I was incredibly lucky because I got to do that with my best friend Lacey Turner and we’ve worked together so much that we sort of knew every little tick that each one of us had. We’d already talked about if one of us went wrong. I was literally holding her hand throughout the whole live (episode) and I can definitely say I would not have been able to do it without her – 100%. Team work.”

They then played clips from heartbroken EastEnders fans reacting to Martin’s death and James appeared emotional as he listened in.

James Bye chatted about his soap exit ( 
Image:
BBC)
Speaking about his exit, James said he urged bosses to let him tell actress Lacey Turner who played Martin’s ex-wife Stacey that he was leaving. He said: “I was sworn to keep it a secret. Obviously the people involved in the storyline they were told not long after I was. In fact I told the exec producer that, well after he made the decision, that you have to let me tell Lacey.

“Anyone else you can tell, but that was the most difficult conversation. Other than telling my wife, she wasn’t over the moon with it to be fair. But telling Lacey was tough and it has been a really emotional couple of months.”

Born on the soap in 1985, Martin Fowler met his untimely end during the show’s live episode marking its 40th anniversary celebrations.

After the pub exploded, Martin tried to save as many people as he could while the building collapsed around him. After saving Stacey, a metal beam fell on his legs. While he waited for medical help, he proposed to Stacey, only for her to receive devastating news.

Paramedics explained that Martin could suffer from Crush syndrome, a potentially fatal condition caused by severe muscle damage. Tragically, Martin passed away after the beam was removed, with his death confirmed by chilling screams echoing around the Square.