Old Ben Mitchell ‘shocked’ that EastEnders recast Ben Mitchell after being told there’d never be another Ben Mitchell

He's not upset, he's disappointed. 

Earlier this week, EastEnders announced that they had recast Ben Mitchell for the sixth (yeah, sixth) time. No longer would Harry Reid be playing the iconic, murdering, bizarre, terrifying, and a bit gas character - this time around it would be Max Bowden, and he's obviously pretty delighted with the news. One person who wasn't entirely delighted with the recast was Reid or, as he will be known for the purpose of this article, Old Ben Mitchell. Reid (who is the third best Ben, let it be known) said that he wants his fans to know that he's not upset by the recast, just disappointed. Primarily because he only found out about it about a week ago. Grim. He told Digital Spy that EastEnders had promised him the role would never be recast and that he was, unsurprisingly, shocked to hear that it had been. Again.

"They told me that they were going to recast him about a week before it was announced," he said. "To be honest, I was shocked because I didn't expect that they were going to recast the role. I was told that they weren't going to recast.

"But at the same time, it didn't upset me, which is what a lot of the fans are saying (...) This is business and this is the game that we're in. The acting industry is very cut-throat."

Very cut-throat, indeed. Despite all the drama, Reid doesn't have any bad words for New Ben Mitchell, aka: Max. Or EastEnders producer, Kate Oates either, even though she broke the news to him via email a week ago. "It is a shame and it is frustrating because I still love the character of Ben," he said. "Max has landed a great part and I wish him the best of luck, because I'm sure he'll have a lot of fun with it." "Kate actually sent me an email as well, just before it got announced. "She explained that the writers wanted to take Ben in a new direction and she was lovely. We're actually going to meet up for some lunch." Wonder how Charlie Jones feels about all of this...