EastEnders' Alice Haig found difficulty in 'carrying the weight' of the toxic masculinity storyline

EastEnders star Alice Haig initially struggled with "carrying the weight" of the toxic masculinity storyline.

The 40-year-old actress plays Vicki Fowler in the hit BBC soap, and her alter ego's stepson, teenager Joel Marshall (Max Murray), is currently involved in Andrew Tate-esque storylines focused on incel misogyny.

So far, Joel has sexually assaulted a stranger on a train while getting his friend Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall) to film it, recorded himself having intimate relations with school girl Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) without her permission, leaked adult footage of Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) online, as well as clashed and become violent with with Vicki for his vile behaviour and sexist attitudes.

Meanwhile, part of the story has revealed that Joel - whose dad is Vicki's boyfriend Ross (Alex Walkinshaw) - could not return to Australia, where the trio lived before coming to Albert Square in March, because he "up-skirted" a girl, and Ross paid off the family to avoid going to the police.

Asked how she does not take the dark events that happen in the storyline home with her, Alice exclusively told BANG Showbiz at the Inside Soap Awards in London on Monday night (29.09.25): "Do you know what, usually I never do. I always find that I’m able to, kind of, drop it at the end of the day - but, obviously, I’ve never done a job like EastEnders before.

"And I haven’t realised how long you’re carrying on these stories. So, actually, after, kind of, a few weeks of carrying the weight of that story, I was starting to feel quite [drained] - I’m looking forward to some light relief!

"But yeah, it’s a brilliantly written and mapped out storyline, so I’m hoping that the audiences get something from it."

The star admitted the toxic masculinity storyline has challenged her as an actress, and Alice teased that the fallout from the plot will make her job even trickier.

She hinted: "The fallout of what’s to come is going to be even more challenging."

"But also, these are the kinds of storylines - not only that are important to tell, but a great for an actor; you get to do all of the stuff you dream of doing, like the really dramatic stuff.

"So, it’s been amazing and a privilege."

And Alice has lauded 18 year old Max for doing a great job playing evil Joel.

She said: "He’s done so brilliantly. He’s such a nice guy in real life - he’s not like [Joel] at all!

"And he’s just taken it in his stride. He’s had lots of support from everybody at work.

"I think he’s nailing it, and I think he’s taking comfort and courage from the fact that it’s such an important story to tell and needs to be told."