EastEnders actor Aaron Sidwell has revealed that his character Steven Beale could go "full evil" this week as he is pushed to the brink.
Steven has been lying to his partner Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) about dying from a brain tumour, telling her he only has three months to live, and has also been sleeping with Lauren's sister Abi (Lorna Fitzgerald). In a further complication, Steven has also been blackmailed into helping Max Branning (Jake Wood) with his revenge plans.
Now, 28-year-old soap star Sidwell has revealed that his character could turn to the dark side this week, saying he's "willing to go as far as it takes, whatever that might be and whoever it may hurt", in order to keep his lies from coming out.
"We’re really going to see this tug of war – Steven’s always been this character that could go either way. He could go full evil or he could redeem himself and become the good guy. I think we’re really going to see that battle across this week especially", Sidwell said.
Sidwell said he thinks Steven has gotten himself into this awful situation because he "just loves the wrong people".
The English actor added that Max has had a big part to play, saying: "He needs to be held responsible for the things he’s done, of course, but he’s being manipulated by someone else - he’s being virtually tortured into insanity by Max and I imagine there’s an element of pity rather than sympathy for Steven from the audience."
When asked why Steven hasn't just come clean to Lauren, Sidwell said: "He just can’t ever bring himself to end it. He thinks at some point it’s all just going to straighten itself out and it’ll all go away. That’s what’s stopping him all the time. He doesn’t want to be doing what he’s doing at all, he hates what he’s doing, it tortures him but he can’t see he’s got any other alternative."
The actor added that Abi has become "this drug that he can't stay away from" and says that Steven is "falling in love with her".
"What he doesn’t understand is that he’s falling in love with her and he almost doesn’t want to fall in love with her, but she embraces the horribleness about him rather than making him a better person. She loves him for who he is, which is something he’s never had", Sidwell said.
EastEnders continues on RTÉ One on Thursday August 31 at 7.30pm.
