Fans had been aware that Ford was joining the BBC One soap for scenes surrounding the funeral of Aunt Sal Martin in the New Year after he was spotted <\/a>on set, but the Hollywood star\u2019s role had yet to be confirmed until now.<\/p>\n Now the soap has confirmed that Ford will portray Stevie Mitchell, the estranged father of long-term favourite Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick).<\/p>\n Having grown up in care, viewers have been aware that Billy did not have the happiest home life and he was left in foster care at the age of 10 when Stevie took sole custody of Billy\u2019s brother Charlie.<\/p>\n Billy last saw his father Stevie off-screen 25 years ago but will now be reunited with him at the funeral of Aunt Sal Martin, played by the late Anna Karen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking of his casting in the soap, Alan Ford commented: \u201cI feel highly delighted to be playing a character close to my own age in this extremely popular television drama series.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking further on Ford\u2019s casting and the arrival of Stevie, executive producer Chris Clenshaw commented: \u201cIt\u2019s an honour to welcome the immensely talented Alan Ford to the cast of EastEnders as he takes on the role of Stevie Mitchell.<\/p>\n \u201cWhilst Billy has been a stalwart in the show for over 25 years, viewers know very little about his complicated childhood and the events that led him to grow up in care.<\/p>\n \u201cAlan arrives in Walford as the Mitchell family prepare to say goodbye to their beloved Aunt Sal but it soon becomes apparent that he is not welcome in the family fold.\u201d<\/p> Ford is best known for his roles in blockbuster gangster films Snatch, Riot Club and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He also has numerous television credits to his name and even previously had a small role in EastEnders as guest character called Sam Sangers\u00a0in 1986.<\/p>\n Fans can expect to see Alan Ford in EastEnders as Stevie Mitchell on 15th January 2023.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n EastEnders airs Monday to Friday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer this week.<\/strong><\/p>\n Visit our dedicated\u00a0EastEnders<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0page\u00a0<\/strong>for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.\u00a0<\/strong>If you\u2019re looking for more to watch, check out our\u00a0<\/strong>TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Hollywood star Alan Ford will portray Stevie Mitchell in the BBC One soap. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":42642,"template":"","categories":[1,2,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/eastenders-confirms-film-star-alan-ford-casting-as-billy-mitchells-dad-stevie-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/eastenders-confirms-film-star-alan-ford-casting-as-billy-mitchells-dad-stevie-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/eastenders-confirms-film-star-alan-ford-casting-as-billy-mitchells-dad-stevie-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/eastenders-confirms-film-star-alan-ford-casting-as-billy-mitchells-dad-stevie-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/eastenders-confirms-film-star-alan-ford-casting-as-billy-mitchells-dad-stevie-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/eastenders-confirms-film-star-alan-ford-casting-as-billy-mitchells-dad-stevie-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/eastenders-confirms-film-star-alan-ford-casting-as-billy-mitchells-dad-stevie-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,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":"Hollywood star Alan Ford will portray Stevie Mitchell in the BBC One soap.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/42641"}],"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\/42642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Alan](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/12\/458829-1508633.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"458829,EastEnders\\"\/")
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