The world of fame and being in the limelight to the joy of screaming fans often feels like it must be a dream come true.
But, according to EastEnders icon Jack Ryder – who was extremely well known between 1998 and 2002 in the BBC soap, to the point where he received bags more fanmail than any other cast member – there is a dark side to it all, that he found deeply overwhelming.
Chatting to Metro for our series Beyond the Bubble, which catches up with former soap actors to see what life has been like since, Jack, 44, reflects on the positives and negatives.
Cast in the show at the young age of 17 as Jamie Mitchell, he was thrust into a lifestyle he wasn’t prepared for, having no idea how big the reaction would be.
With boy-bandish looks and the widely used term ‘heartthrob’, it’s a lot for any teenager to take on.
‘We were drawing in millions of viewers,’ the actor recalled. ‘But the fame side was hard to deal with and it was intense for me.
‘I didn’t have any security, so I would turn up to events alongside boybanders who had full entourages, while I was on my own. I didn’t have other band members to lean on and I felt a bit on my own at times.’
While Jack assures that he loved his time in EastEnders – and still gets recognised as Jamie – he often faced extremes which led to security panics and even, harrowingly, death threats.
‘We were working in the era of fan mail. Most of the cast had a cubby hole for letters. I had a room. I was receiving around 20,000 letters a week, arriving in bags, and I couldn’t get through them all.
‘I do remember receiving death threats once, which was not nice, and the police had to get involved. It’s a darker side of fame.
‘I remember doing a light switch-on once and being on a bus that was rocking back and forth because of the crowds pushing against it. The screaming girls were hard to deal with because it was so intense.
‘I’d have shopping centres closing down when I arrived because security couldn’t handle the crowds.’
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Recalling other vivid memories, Jack once found himself at the centre of the most bizarre situations and reactions.
‘I remember being in a Sainsbury’s in Hertfordshire, standing in the frozen aisle picking up a bag of peas, when a girl who was with her mum spotted me.
‘She literally collapsed, just fell to the floor. People often laugh when they hear stories like that, but it was terrifying in the moment. I didn’t know who she was or what was wrong with her, and her mum was looking at me as if to say, “What have you done?”’
Jamie was a hugely popular character, the tormented nephew of Billy Mitchell and a love interest in Sonia Fowler.
Much to the torment of the afore-mentioned fans, EastEnders delivered the usual treat of a Christmas Day death, with tragic Jamie mowed down by Martin Fowler and killed.
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Jamie may be long gone, but his EastEnders legacy lives on, while Jack is pleased to keep in touch with colleagues such as Natalie Cassidy, Dean Gaffney, Charlie Brooks, Michael Greco and Steve McFadden.
Life away from screaming fans, bags of fanmail and hit and run endings looks a lot different for Jack now – it’s certainly much less dramatic.
‘I live a very quiet life in the country. I run a coaching business, working with actors up and down the country, in the US, and one to one on Zoom with actors across Europe. That side of my business is really flourishing.
‘It’s growing, and I work on it every day. I have very close, ongoing relationships with actors, focusing on the craft, looking at audition pieces, self tapes, scripts, text and performance. Creatively, I’m still very much immersed in acting, just in a different way.
‘I also adore my family and see them when I can. Overall, it’s a very peaceful life. I enjoy the simple things.
‘I really lean into cooking, putting the laundry on, reading a book or going for an afternoon walk. I’m very content with that way of living. It’s a quieter chapter now.
‘And when a film or television role comes along, I go off and do my bit, catch up with familiar faces I’ve known over the years, and then return home again.’
New online bingo brand, Zingo Bingo, worked with Jack and Metro on this interview.
Metro’s Beyond the Bubble is a fortnightly series where we chat to soap stars from the past. We have a lot more to come!
