Toby-Alexander Smith took "a while" to get used to calls for his 'EastEnders' character to be axed.
Toby-Alexander Smith
A number of fans of the BBC One soap have pleaded with bosses to ditch Toby's character, evil serial killer Gray Atkins, after he murdered his wife Chantelle Atkins (Jess Plummer) following years of abusing her, but Toby-Alexander admitted it means he is "doing [his] job" if people want this character out.
He said: "I think initially it took a while to get used to that, that it's not a personal thing about me.
"Obviously social media can be very loud. When people started directing it at Gray, that was when I was like, 'OK, we're doing our jobs here, people are calling out this behaviour, this behaviour is unacceptable.' "
The actor also admitted it is important to play out plots such as the domestic abuse storyline, because people can "recognise those behaviours" are wrong.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, he added: "That's why we do it, for people to be able to recognise that there are people like Gray out there.
"It may be a father, it may be an ex-boyfriend, it may be a brother, it may be a friend.
"It just gave people that platform to recognise those behaviours."
Gray murdered Chantelle when he pushed her onto an upturned knife in their dishwasher, and the dramatic scene is up for a BAFTA TV Award in the Must-See Moment category.
Since killing Chantelle, Gray has become a serial killer after he bumped off Tina Carter (Luisa Bradshaw-White) and Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami).
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