EastEnders star Ricky Champ reveals sex of unborn baby

He's the daddy: EastEnders star Ricky Champ has another baby on the way. (Image credit: BBC)

EastEnders actor Ricky Champ has revealed the sex of his second child.

The 41 year old star, who plays Stuart Highway, announced back in January that he and wife Sammy had a new addition on the way, due in July.

pic.twitter.com/sk7ORaQpJAJanuary 6, 2022

In an exclusive interview, he has now gone a step further and shared some exciting news. "He’s a boy!" says Ricky. "We’re very excited.

“[Our daughter] Beatrix is four, so we’ve timed it quite nicely. We’ll have a few months at home together, as a family, and then Beatrix starts school.

‘So we’ll have one on the path of education, and then we start again with the other.”

In a case of art imitating life, Ricky is set to welcome a son on-screen, too.

Next week in EastEnders, Stuart and wife Rainie’s heavily pregnant surrogate, Bernie Taylor, returns to Walford after taking time out to visit brother Keanu, and proceeds to give birth to a boy.

EastEnders Bernie — It's coming! Bernie (Clair Norris) goes into labour whilst confronting Rainie (Tanya Franks) and Stuart (Ricky Champ) about the latter's breast cancer diagnosis. (Image credit: BBC)

But the delivery isn’t as smooth-going as Rainie and Stuart had hoped, for shortly before Bernie goes into labour, she finds out from Sonia that Stuart has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Rainie lies that Stuart is beating the disease — when, in fact, an earlier hospital appointment has revealed that her husband's tumour has grown as a result of him turning his back on traditional medical treatment and opting for more ‘natural’ remedies.

Following the birth, however, she feels uneasy about lying to Bernie, and privately admits that Stuart is refusing surgery, leading Bernie to question whether she can really hand over her baby to the broody couple.

EastEnders Stuart Rainie — Crisis: Will Stuart and Rainie get their baby, or will Bernie back out of the surrogacy deal? (Image credit: BBC)

Adds Ricky, “Stuart and Rainie have really been fighting for this, and it hangs in the balance whether they’ll get this baby.

“They’re the odd couple, but they’re great together and have come through a lot.

“A baby would be a challenge that they would be really up for. They fight fiercely, but they also love fiercely.”

Will Bernie insist that no surgery means no baby? And if so, will Stuart see sense and agree to go under the knife?

EastEnders airs tonight at 7.30pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings.

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.