EastEnders star James Bye is swapping the market stall for house renovation as he presents a celebrity edition of Homes Under the Hammer.
The actor teams up with presenter Martel Maxwell to explore a home in Leicestershire and James gets stuck into the renovations.
Celebrity Homes Under the Hammer will be aired at its usual time slot of 11.15am on BBC One and serves part of a celebrity-themed week of the daytime show.
Born and raised in Basingstoke in Hampshire, the actor appeared in The Bill and The Great Train Robbery before taking over the role of Martin Fowler in EastEnders in 2014. Bye has since starred on Strictly Come Dancing, Pointless Celebrities, Richard Osman’s House of Games and The Wall.
Outside of TV he leads a busy life with his wife and four children in a stunning home with all their antics shared on social media.
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Strictly Come Dancing accident
Amy Dowden wept as James Bye delivered an emotional tribute to her on It Takes Two in 2022 -Credit:BBC2
James was hit with some awkward accidents while performing on Strictly with his partner Amy Dowden in 2022.
“I’ve dropped her, I’ve spun her into the ground,” the EastEnders star revealed to Digital Spy. “I kneed her [and] gave her a proper dead leg.
I took the wrong step and I just kneed her right on the inside of the leg, and she was hobbling on.”
This comes after the actor recalled a gruesome injury in training earlier in the competition.
James told host Rylan Clark on Strictly Spin-off It Takes Two: “I was trying to show Amy in rehearsal how strong I was by doing pull ups on a girder and I ripped my finger open.
“It is only my wedding ring keeping my finger on at the moment” he told Rylan Clark.
“Let’s see how we get on with that one!”
James Bye and Amy Dowden were the fifth couple to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing.
How James Bye got his EastEnders breakthrough
EastEnders duo Davood Ghadami (Kush Kazemi) and James Bye (Martin Fowler) have a real-life Bromance -Credit:BBC
James is best known for playing Martin Fowler on the BBC show EastEnders. The character is one of the longest running in the soap, having been in and out of storylines since 1985.
James Bye took over the part in 2014 when Martin – who was married to Sonia Fowler, played by Natalie Cassidy – returned to Albert Square for the first time in seven years.
Before that, the part was played by Joe Peyton Price between 1985 and 1996. However, James Alexandrou was the most notable incarnation thanks to the storylines of underage pregnancy, and even a stint in prison.
James Alexandrou left in 2007 and was asked to return years later, but refused. James Bye was cast as Martin Fowler after a casting call and he made his first on-screen appearance in 2014.
After 10 years of playing the iconic character, James shared on his social media: “What a journey… Huge love to those of you who’ve messaged me on my anniversary today! It means so much. Truly…
“Big love to you all… From your favourite fruit and veg man.”
Inside James Bye’s family life with children
James and Victoria Bye with their baby Rufus June 2023 -Credit:James Bye/Instagram
While Martin Fowler has been unlucky in love in Walford, actor James Bye has a more settled and comfortable love life.
James has been married to his wife Victoria for more than 10 years. The pair first met in a Sainsbury’s car park 16 years ago when Bye was working on a promotion job and “handed Victoria a fruit jelly”, according to What to Watch.
He asked her out on a date to the local pub and so began their blossoming romance.
The couple live in Buckinghamshire with their three sons Edward, 10, Louis, eight, Hugo, five and Rufus, one. In January 2023, the pair headed to St Lucia to renew their wedding vows after already being married for 10 years.
Sharing the romantic sunset snap on their family Instagram account, they penned: ‘Happy 1 year anniversary to us…. (again).
Victoria runs an Instagram blog called Life With The Byes which gives fans an insight into their everyday life as a family of five.
Victoria once shared the reality of what it’s like raising children with their dad in the spotlight.
She wrote: “We finally settled in beautiful Bucks & the boys have grown up surrounded by countryside in our messy, noisy home and we’ve tried our best to keep things normal in the happy (and sometimes hectic) life we have. But it’s still a worry…
“When Louis comes home from school and anxiously asks me what ‘famous’ is.
“Or when Hugo thinks it’s normal that everyone takes selfies with his dad.”
Bond with EastEnders co-star
Their characters Stacey and Martin Fowler have had a complicated relationship on EastEnders – but they have a great friendship off the soap -Credit:BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron
His alter-ego Martin Fowler has seen plenty of ups and down with his on-screen ex-wife Stacey Slater over the years but actors James Bye and Lacey Turner share a special bond when the cameras stop rolling.
In fact, the pair’s bond is so strong, James even asked Lacey to be Godmother to his third child Hugo.
Speaking to OK! at the time, the soap star said: “I took Lacey out for lunch to ask her. I was quite nervous and I was getting choked up asking her.
“Bless her, she was really taken aback and said it was an honour.”
In 2019, Lacey gave birth to a baby girl called Dusty with husband Matt Kay, who she married in 2017.
James’ wife Victoria also told Ok! Magazine that she is excited for Dusty and Hugo to grow up together, as they are very close in age.
James also asked former EastEnders co-star Davood Ghadami, who played Kush Kazemi until his character was killed off in 2021, to be godfather to his and wife Victoria’s son Hugo.