EastEnders’ little Ben Mitchell actor Charlie Jones looks unrecognisable 15 years on from soap debut

REMEMBER the fresh-faced lad with specs who played the young Ben Mitchell in EastEnders?

Although not the first, or last, to play Phil’s son in the soap, Charlie Jones made his mark as the longest serving actor in the role.

Charlie took on the role of the ten-year-old in 2006, when the character returned to Albert Square following the “death” of mum Kathy Beale – who later turned out to be alive and kicking.

His most memorable storyline was the physical and mental abuse he suffered at the hands of his dad Phil’s girlfriend Stella Crawford.

After he spilled the beans on the couple’s wedding day Stella (played by Sophie Thompson) took her own life by throwing herself off a roof.

After that Ben went off the rails, burning sister Louise’s arm and attacking bully Jordan with a spanner – a move that got him locked up for eight months in 2010.

When he returned eight months later, Ben had morphed into Joshua Pascoe and, since 2014 he has been played by Harry Reid.

But child star Charlie hasn’t given up acting.

Now 25, Charlie studied acting at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts and most appeared in hit BBC drama Noughts + Crosses in 2020.

He also had a small role in 2020 Christmas film, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey.

Charlie has been in a relationship with fellow actress Flora London for the past five years.

She recently shared a picture of them together, with Charlie looking very different from the boy in the glasses in Albert Square, sporting a full gingery-brown beard and no specs.

She wrote: “5 years on and I’m still driving him crazy” alongside a heart emoji.

Here’s what his screen sister Louise looks like now she’s all grown up and what happened to Lucy Beale actress Melissa Suffield.