EastEnders’ Harry Reid: ‘Jonny Labey and I loved filming the passionate funeral parlour scenes!’

(Image credit: © BBC/Jack Barnes)

EastEnders viewers saw Ben Mitchell getting very passionate with hairdresser Paul Coker on Thursday, but it was hardly the most romantic of settings... The pair got it on in the funeral parlour, with a dead body in the room!

The sauciness is set to continue there on tonight’s EastEnders episode, and Harry Reid, who plays Ben, recently told What’s On TV about filming his semi-naked sexy scenes with Jonny Labey, who plays Paul.

“It’s such a great scene, just the two lads sharing private time, but with a body there!” Harry laughed. "Jonny and I loved filming Ben and Paul’s passionate scenes in the funeral parlour and did what we had to do. There was a lot of concentration needed and it was a cold day to be semi-naked!

“Jonny is great. He’s a real professional. He really thinks about things. When you have sexual contact with someone it breaks a barrier and you have a comfortableness with them. There has to be little moments that we can share on screen, like eye contact where we know the pair have had a moment. We’ve tried to make Paul and Ben proper flirtatious.”

Harry’s not sure he wants Ben to ‘come out’ to the Mitchell family just yet, and of course there’s his nightmare girlfriend Abi to deal with, too.

“I don’t want him to come out until he’s older because I don’t want him to lose his dad,” said Harry. “Ultimately he loves his family and Ben needs to feel comfortable enough to say: ‘Dad, I’m gay and you can’t do anything about it!’ I want it to be like this, rather than him being outed because Phil won’t listen to reason then - it’s Phil’s way or the highway.

“If it ever comes out that he’s been sleeping with Paul, he should probably worry more about more about Abi than Phil though! She’s got a real nasty side to her. Abi will bite. Don’t ever underestimate Abi Branning.”

 

Nicholas Cannon
TV Content Director on TV Times, What's On TV and TV & Satellite Week

I'm a huge fan of television so I really have found the perfect job, as I've been writing about TV shows, films and interviewing major television, film and sports stars for over 25 years. I'm currently TV Content Director on What's On TV, TV Times, TV and Satellite Week magazines plus Whattowatch.com. I previously worked on Woman and Woman's Own in the 1990s. Outside of work I swim every morning, support Charlton Athletic football club and get nostalgic about TV shows Cagney & Lacey, I Claudius, Dallas and Tenko. I'm totally on top of everything good coming up too.