A former professional boxer will appear in Albert Square as he takes a guest role in EastEnders.

Chris Evangelou, 37, is set to go head-to-head with Max Bowden's character Ben Mitchell during his appearance in the soap.

Before venturing into acting, Evangelou started training for boxing at the Haringey Boxing Gym in Tottenham.

As amateur boxer, he won six international gold medals and later in his professional career he won an international welterweight title.

Born in Wood Green, Evangelou has made a name for himself in north London by launching The Fit Factory gym in Cockfosters in 2021 with his brother.

The boxer now lives in Palmers Green and has taken a different turn in his newly-found career as an actor on platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sky Atlantic and Disney+.

Now he will make his first appearance in a guest role during tonight’s (March 27) episode of BBC soap EastEnders.

Max, who plays Phil Mitchell’s son Ben, shared pictures on Instagram of his character facing Evangelou’s character Troy.

In the post Bowden wrote: “Buzzing that we’ve got a proper boxing gym back in Albert Square. Loved shooting next weeks episodes with my brother @chrisevangelou. So good to combine my two loves acting and boxing!

“Tune in and see Ben bite off more than he can chew.”

It is understood that the character Troy will be in more than one episode.

Evangelou said: "I am thrilled to be joining the EastEnders family for this short stint and can't wait for viewers to see what we have in store.

“It's an honour to work with such a talented cast and crew, and I am grateful for this opportunity."

Evangelou can be seen on in tonight's episode being shown at 7.30pm on BBC One.