'EastEnders' Star Ben Hardy Reveals The One Thing That 'Irritates' Him About Peter Beale's Exit

Former ‘EastEnders’ actor Ben Hardy has admitted his one qualm with his soap exit.

Ben played Peter Beale for two years in the BBC soap until his final appearance last year, when the character left for New Zealand following the revelation that his younger brother, Bobby, had murdered his sister, Lucy.

With Albert Square now in the past, Ben has admitted there’s still one thing that irks him about his ‘EastEnders’ departure, and it has to do with his character’s young son, Louie.

He tells Metro: “I’ll be honest, it does irritate me that I have a baby – Peter has a baby, I am very attached to him – a baby in the square with Lauren and it bugs me that the baby is left there, not being fathered.”

The baby is being raised by its mother, Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa), who recently returned to Walford after a brief spell in New Zealand with Peter.

She didn’t come alone, though, and quickly shocked the Beale family with the announcement that she’s now in a relationship with Peter’s half-brother, Steven.

Since bidding farewell to ‘EastEnders’, Ben is already enjoying a successful career in Hollywood, starring as Archangel in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, as well as the upcoming action film ‘Granite Mountain’, in which he’ll appear opposite Jennifer Connolly.

When asked if he’d be keen to come back to Soapland in the future, Ben gave the ever-predictable “never say never” reply, but did elaborate slightly: “I enjoyed my time on the show but I want to do more work in film and TV, so I have no plans to go back imminently but it is nice to know the door is still open.”