Ben Mitchell actor Max Bowden has explained why he avoided his EastEnders<\/a> co-star Aidan O\u2019Callaghan, who plays Lewis Butler<\/a>, ahead of their upcoming storyline in the BBC soap.<\/p>\n Lewis will rape Ben in distressing scenes airing later this month. This follows the pair growing closer as Lewis has recently provided a listening ear for Ben\u2019s troubles.<\/p>\n For the last few months, Ben has been struggling with another existing trauma after witnessing a homophobic attack. This has caused him grow apart from husband Callum Highway (Tony Clay), who can\u2019t understand his mindset.<\/p>\n Ben later went to take matters into his own hands<\/a>, and at the same time, Lewis conveniently wormed his way into his life.<\/p>\n Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> and other media about preparing to film the harrowing story, Bowden was asked whether he knew what was coming when O\u2019Callaghan initially joined the show.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know but I think perhaps Aidan did,\u201d he said. \u201cIt had been pitched to me about 10 months ago but we weren\u2019t sure when it was going to come in. It was still in discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd then it had to go through clearances, so it has been a long process. It wasn\u2019t until Aidan came in and I realised the story was actually happening now, but I think we were both fairly aware.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Soon after learning about the subject matter, Bowden made the creative decision to keep his distance from O\u2019Callaghan. \u201cI was probably a bit of an arse really,\u201d he mused. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBecause I said to Coilin\u00a0[O Scolai, EastEnders director], but didn\u2019t tell Aidan until we\u2019d finished that stuff, that I deliberately kept my distance from him for about six weeks, just because I didn\u2019t want to find myself in a position where we become personally close.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Read more:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The actor added that this was purely so that a real-life friendship couldn\u2019t translate on-screen while the pair were filming the dark plot. And thankfully, he did explain all to his colleague eventually.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt, I thought it would make everything that happens post-that really difficult. So I said to him after we\u2019d finished the scene, \u2018I just want you to know that I am not an asshole. I was I was doing this because of X, Y and Z\u2019. After that we had a good chat and got on really well. It was a choice and I did feel quite bad for doing it, but I think it helped.\u201d<\/p> Bowden also gave us an insight into the rehearsal process, as well as telling us how EastEnders supported the cast when shooting the pivotal scenes. \u201cWe had an intimacy coordinator for the scene itself. But in terms of rehearsal time, it was more just conversation and choreography, making sure that the beats are matched up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWith something like this, it\u2019s very important that we get the moments of change within the thought pattern, so much is happening in such a short space of time. So as actors, we have to kind of choreograph it too, to make sure that first of all, it reads perfectly for the audience. So there\u2019s no confusion about what\u2019s happening and the decisions that have been made,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd two, it just gives us a bit of clarity as actors so that we know where we\u2019re going in our journey. So there was that and the intimacy coordinator really helped, it freed up the experience for us.\u201d<\/p>\n EastEnders is working closely with Survivors Manchester<\/a> on Ben\u2019s storyline. You can find help and support at https:\/\/www.survivorsmanchester.org.uk\/<\/a> and https:\/\/www.survivorsuk.org\/<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Visit our dedicated\u00a0EastEnders\u00a0<\/a>page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.\u00a0<\/strong>If you\u2019re looking for more to watch check out our\u00a0TV guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n He chose to keep a distance from co-star Aidan O’Callaghan before filming the traumatic moments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":15561,"template":"","categories":[2,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/max-bowden-reveals-why-he-avoided-co-star-ahead-of-harrowing-eastenders-scenes-scaled.jpg",2560,1714,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/max-bowden-reveals-why-he-avoided-co-star-ahead-of-harrowing-eastenders-scenes-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/max-bowden-reveals-why-he-avoided-co-star-ahead-of-harrowing-eastenders-scenes-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/max-bowden-reveals-why-he-avoided-co-star-ahead-of-harrowing-eastenders-scenes-768x514.jpg",768,514,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/max-bowden-reveals-why-he-avoided-co-star-ahead-of-harrowing-eastenders-scenes-1024x686.jpg",800,536,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/max-bowden-reveals-why-he-avoided-co-star-ahead-of-harrowing-eastenders-scenes-1536x1029.jpg",1536,1029,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/05\/max-bowden-reveals-why-he-avoided-co-star-ahead-of-harrowing-eastenders-scenes-2048x1371.jpg",2048,1371,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"He chose to keep a distance from co-star Aidan O'Callaghan before filming the traumatic moments.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/15560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/06\/22559028-low_res-eastenders-april-june-2021-cbccf8e.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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