Tamzin Outhwaite on Mel Owen's and Hunter's relationship: 'It's volatile'

(Image credit: BBC / Jack Barnes)

Mel Owen’s fifteen year old son will arrive in Walford next week

EastEnders star Tamzin Outhwaite has shone a light on Mel Owen’s relationship with teenage son, Hunter, and revealed that her alter-ego is set for some rocky times ahead.

Hunter – Mel’s child with second husband Steve Owen - arrives in Walford next week [check out the latest EastEnders spoilers], but just when Mel thinks her life is back on track, he learns the truth about his late father, causing a rift between mother and son.

“I have a lot of fun with my own kids; we do a lot of dancing and play a lot of games," said Tamzin, mum to nine year old Florence and five year old Marnie. “But a 15 year old boy is a very different dynamic. He’s resentful, he’s angry; everything that teenagers are, and he’s doing it all without a father and with a single mum, which makes him even more resentful.”

Tamzin added to us: "It’s a lot less fun being a mum in EastEnders! Mel is basically just trying to walk on eggshells the whole time and trying to hold it all down, because it can always kick off with a 15-year-old old boy.

“She’s continually trying different ways to get to him. It doesn’t start off as a close relationship, but we get there at different points. It’s volatile, definitely.”

Newcomer Charlie Winter has been cast in the role of Hunter, and will make his screen debut on 7^th February.

Alison Slade has over 20 years of experience as a TV journalist and has spent the vast majority of that time as Soap Editor of TV Times magazine. She is passionate about the ability of soaps to change the world by presenting important, issue-based stories about real people in a relatable way. There are few soap actors that she hasn’t interviewed over the years, and her expertise in the genre means she has been called upon as a judge numerous times for The British Soap Awards and the BAFTA TV Awards.

When she is not writing about soaps, watching soaps, or interviewing people who are in soaps, she loves going to the theatre, taking a long walk or pottering about at home, obsessing over Farrow and Ball paint.