EastEnders star Tony Clay has opened up about the transformation of Callum ‘Halfway’ Highway.
Callum has become something of a fan favourite character over the last year or so, but prior to his relationship with Ben (Max Bowden), he was somewhat different.
Referred to by his nickname Halfway more so than Callum, the character sported a beanie hat and a ‘bowl cut’, and developed a relationship with Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty).
Tony — who portrays Callum in the BBC One soap — spoke to Stacey Dooley about the transformation which ensued in scenes which viewers can see in Monday night’s instalment of Secrets From The Square.
Discussing the relationship with Whitney, the actor weighed in on whether he knew what the future held for Callum at that point, saying: ‘At that time, I didn’t know.
‘I was like, “I don’t really know where this goes.”‘
‘It’s got some lovely stuff with me and Shona, but I said: ‘It’s like we have it one episode, and then the next it’s done and never spoken about again. I’d like to know is this the end of the road? Is it not? Let’s know now!”‘
‘And they were like boom! They came out with this big storyline, and I was like: “Well, I’m very happy!”
‘I’ll take that one!’
Senior Executive Producer Kate Oates certainly worked her narrative magic with Callum, doing what she does time and again in that she used what had already been established to further develop his character, and in doing so, retroactively strengthened what was already there to begin with.
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During the interview with Stacey, Tony also spoke about Halfway’s infamous hat and haircut.
He said: ‘It was Halfway, at the time, so he was just a very different character from where we are now — with his little bowl cut and wooly hat.’
Stacey revealed that the little hat ‘broke her heart’, and Tony replied: ‘It broke mine the minute I came in!’
‘I’m here to play a very serious part’ he joked, ‘I’m a very serious actor. And they were like, “well, we’re going to give you a bowl cut, and this [the hat]”, and I was like, “great. Well, I’ve signed now!’
One to watch: Monday 13 July at 8pm on BBC One
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