EastEnders star Jake Wood has revealed he has signed up to play Max Branning for another two years.
Max has just returned to Albert Square, and the soap star revealed on This Morning how much he had enjoyed his ten week break, spending time with his family.
Jake said: "I've been in the show for five years now and towards the end of last year I was getting very tired and felt that I needed a break.
"They wanted me to sign for another two years, which I have, I'm very happy about that. But I felt that after five years I needed a proper break so I had a lovely summer just spending time with the kids.
"I didn't want to do any other work I just wanted to be at home and be a father to my kids and a husband to my wife."
The 39-year-old father-of-two revealed his children are too young to watch him on EastEnders so he "begged" to appear on CBeebies Bedtime Story, but they weren't that excited to see him on TV.
Jake revealed: "My kids are still very young, they're six and three, so I wouldn't let them watch EastEnders. That's why I begged to do the CBeebies Bedtime Story.
"But they only watched it once and they won't watch it again because I'm there reading a story most nights."
Max is back in Albert Square with his older brother Derek, played by Jamie Foreman, who Jake promised will cause a lot of trouble.
He revealed: "Derek's the biggest, baddest Branning brother yet. He's just come out of prison for 10 years for armed robbery and he's been generally getting up to no good."