Ben Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, who has been played by six different actors since his on-screen birth on 21 March 1996. Matthew Silver appeared as an infant Ben between 1996 and 1998, and Morgan Whittle played him as a toddler between 1999 and 2001. After a five-year absence from the series, Charlie Jones assumed the role of Ben in 2006. In 2010, the character was recast with Joshua Pascoe in the role, who made his first appearance on 13 December 2010. Pascoe quit the role in 2012 and Ben departed on 24 August 2012. Ben's return was announced in May 2014 with actor Harry Reid in the role; Ben returned on 22 September 2014. Reid was written out of the series in 2017 and Ben departed on 12 January 2018. The character was reintroduced in 2019 with the role recast to Max Bowden. Ben returned on 1 April 2019. Ben's storylines include: a feud between the show's Mitchell and Beale families for his custody; developing a love of dance and the arts, which is a source of tension between him and his father, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden); being physically and mentally abused by Phil's girlfriend Stella Crawford (Sophie Thompson); struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality and then attempting to hide it before coming out; being imprisoned for manslaughter after unintentionally killing Heather Trott (Cheryl Fergison); having a daughter, Lexi Pearce, with Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold), finding out his mother is alive, supporting Louise after her bullies cause her burnt injury, relationships with Paul Coker (Jonny Labey) and the closeted Callum "Halfway" Highway (Tony Clay), coming to terms with Paul's death, being shot by Hunter Owen (Charlie Winter), blackmailing Martin Fowler (James Bye), helping his dad figure out who the father of Sharon's baby is, losing his hearing after sustaining an injury during the boat crash and going into crime with Danny Hardcastle (Paul Usher). As played by Jones, Ben received generally poor reviews from critics. Grace Dent of The Guardian wrote several negative opinion pieces on the character, and contacted the BBC with a list of suggestions for humorous storylines in which he could be killed off. However, the storyline where Ben was abused by Stella won "Best Storyline" at the 2007 Inside Soap Awards, and was nominated for the "Best Soap Storyline" accolade at the TV Quick and TV Choice Awards. In 2012, Pascoe was nominated "Villain of the Year", but lost out to Andrew Lancel (Coronation Street). Lisa O'Connell, also writing for The Guardian, was complimentary of Ben's later, protracted coming out storyline, which she called "a perfect foundation for years of dramatic conflict".
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