James Bye was last seen (by most of us) as EastEnders legend Martin Fowler, suffering a painful death trapped under a length of scaffolding and swearing eternal love to Stacey Slater. His exit was the shocker of the live episode in February, celebrating 40 years of the soap. However, another anniversary is being honoured this year, 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. For those of us who revel in all forms of culture (or want to justify our addiction to soaps) EastEnders is the Dickens of its day, and so the combination of soap star and stage performer shouldn’t be too surprising, but when James announced his next challenge was to take on the role of Austen’s ultimate hero, Fitzwilliam Darcy, it could have been one of ‘Enders famous ‘duff duff’ moments...
The play, based on P D James’ book, Death Comes to Pemberley, debuted at The Mill at Sonning in May and is currently on tour, coming to the Wycombe Swan on 26 August. Meeting James over Zoom to find out more, I had to take a moment to equate the face on my laptop screen with the face I’d been used to seeing around the Square: “Okay, I'm just going to get my head around the fact that you're actually alive”. Luckily he got it: “I know, what the hell?”. Moment taken, I cracked on with the questions.
Tell me about the play and what drew you to the role.
It's a merging of two very popular genres. Jane Austen, then the murder mystery side, which has its own fan base. The writers have cleverly merged the two. As much as Darcy is involved in the murder mystery, he's not the one trying to solve it which I'm really happy about because I just get to play Darcy and everything that comes with him: the relationship with him and Elizabeth, how that breaks down and how it gets rebuilt. That’s kind what drew me to it – getting to play this iconic character after having left a previous iconic character.
Okay, so when you joined EastEnders, James Alexandrou had already made the role of Martin Fowler borderline iconic. Then with Darcy, you've got Colin Firth, and before him Laurence Olivier, and of course Matthew McFadyen…
Why give yourself an easy job? Listen, people want to play characters like Darcy, because they're so interesting and so much fun to play. I've watched [Olivier and Firth] and Darcy is, I think, naturally written for camera, because he's quite an introvert.
In this play, we move on six years from Pride and Prejudice. He's married and happy – or happier than he's ever been. I think if I was doing it on camera, I'd find it a lot easier – not saying I'd find it easy – because my biggest challenge as a performer is keeping everything that is Darcy alive on stage. On camera you don't have to do a lot in terms of physically moving, because it's all in your eyes, whereas on stage, the audience can barely see your eyes. You have to find a way of bringing that [character] to life on stage. That's been the challenge, but it's a wonderful play: I'm really enjoying it and I'm really, really loving being back on stage.
Would you describe yourself as an Austen fan?
No, not off the bat, but when I when I read her I'm always drawn in. She is a fantastic writer. Pride and Prejudice is one of those books that everyone knows. It’s the backbone of the majority of good romances: the battle to find a relationship, it’s up there with Romeo and Juliet
And with Death Comes to Pemberley you've got PD James as well: the queen of relationships and the queen of crime writing, and you and the rest of the cast bringing it together on stage.
You know it's hard, because sometimes you don't know what you're doing. A period drama, or [a murder mystery]. That’s why I said I'm lucky that I'm not one of the actors that is heavily involved in the ‘who did it’. Darcy's just in his own world, like ‘let's try and save the family’. And, you know, he doesn't really think about anything other than that, really. It’s so well written; the dialogue is gorgeous, they've kept it very close to the original novel.
Have you done a lot of theatre?
I went to drama school back in 2002 and that was 95% stage. When I came out of drama school I did a little bit but went into telly and then got EastEnders. I thought I was going to leave drama school and just be on stage for 15 years, because I loved it. That's why I got into acting: I didn't get into it to be famous, and I certainly didn't get into it to be on telly. I just loved being on stage and the adrenaline of doing live shows.
Did you know before the EastEnders live episode that your next role was going to be in theatre?
Yeah, I knew that. That was part of the reason for the exit. I knew what was coming next.
You're most known for your TV work and you're now on stage. You’ve also appeared on Strictly and you and your family have an account on social media (@lifewiththebyes). How do you see all these facets coming together for you, moving forward?
I don't know if they ever will. Victoria and I are very much ‘there's no real plan’. If we're enjoying it, we do it. I know that that might sound odd, bearing in mind that we've got four children, but it seems to have worked up until now. Obviously having a job like EastEnders was helpful in terms of having stability. Now that's gone, we're in a place where there's no knowing where it's going to take us. We've got other things bubbling along under the surface, which will hopefully start to happen early next year.
I think some actors get by on being very relatable, and others actively preserve a mystique. Do you have a plan on where you will ultimately settle?
That's a really good question and we talk about it all the time. Because, like you say, there is a certain mystique you want to keep back. You don't want people to not believe in something you're doing because they know you so well from being on the internet all the time. It’s something that we're navigating day to day, and we don't necessarily have an answer. But we are moving in a very different world: it makes me feel a little bit sick, because it's sad that it's going this way: if you go to a producer with an idea for a show, they want to know what your reach is.
It [social media] serves a purpose. Victoria wants to be an author, so it's great that she's allowing people into that part of her life, and it gives her the opportunity to write. She loves Instagram for the writing, rather than the video content.
So, what's your dream role? Is it on stage? Is it film? Is it TV?
It's probably stage, if I'm honest. If you go to the pinnacle and ask would I rather win an Oscar, or an Olivier, I would probably say an Olivier.
Okay. You’re too young for Lear?
I've got to be realistic, I'm unlikely to play a Hamlet; I saw Ben Wishaw when he was Hamlet back in 2004. That's how you do it. He's the complete opposite to me, whereas a Macbeth… and I've done Oberon; A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of my favourite plays. I'd love to play an Oberon sort of character, but I always lean into the comic moment in whatever I'm doing. I will bring that to the surface, much to the detriment of some of the characters I’ve played, but I have to: that's naturally how I am.
So, how do the cast of Death Comes to Pemberley relate to fun-time James when that sense of humour kicks in on stage?
Well, that's the other thing about Darcy, there are so many moments where I just want to play comic. You've got to be very clever to make Darcy comic, and I'm not particularly clever. I do get the opportunity occasionally, to find a little tongue in cheek. He's witty rather than funny. I can have fun on stage as long as I'm straight, as long as I keep it together.
Jane Austen’s timeless romance meets a gripping murder mystery, as imagined by P D James. Adapted for the stage by Duncan Abel and Rachel Wagstaff. Death Comes to Pemberley is on at the Wycombe Swan, 26-30 August 20205
For tickets and further information visit deathcomestopemberleytour.co.uk
