BREAKING NEWS!!! EastEnders star Max Bowden speaks out as popular soap awards return for 30th year
The exciting launch of the Inside Soap Awards 2026 is just hours away – and former EastEnders star Max Bowden is among those backing the annual ceremony in its landmark 30th year!
At midnight on Tuesday (30 June), the nominations longlist will be officially announced as fans of Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Home and Away, Casualty and Waterloo Road get their chance to support their favourite stars and storylines.
As it stands, the Inside Soap Awards is the only ceremony this year which is solely focused on celebrating the great and good of Soapland.
The British Soap Awards were rested again this year, with more recent reports suggesting that the annual ITV ceremony has been axed for good. That’s a real shame – not just for the actors and production teams that work tirelessly to make these wonderful shows, but for the entire genre as it continues to hold its own against streaming giants.
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Fortunately, helping to fly the flag for the Inside Soap Awards this year is former EastEnders and Waterloo Road fave Max Bowden. Best known for playing Walford’s Ben Mitchell, Max has always been a huge advocate for the event…
“The Inside Soap Awards is set up so differently – it’s built on supporting talent within soap and champions the teams that make them,” shares the actor, in an exclusive interview for this week’s bumper issue of Inside Soap magazine.
“It’s the place where we like to let our hair down the most and are made to feel the safest in the surroundings. It’s a special night that everyone wants to be invited to.”
In 2019, Max was voted as the readers’ Best Bad Boy during his inaugural year of playing Walford’s Ben – while in 2023, he was crowned Soap Superstar, which is awarded annually to a star who’s gone above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to providing entertainment.
“I was over the moon – gobsmacked, even – to win Superstar. It was a special night for me – my nan still has the trophy pride of place on our mantlepiece,” Max says now.
Around 100,000 viewers vote each year in The Inside Soap Awards, and they remain, after three decades, the only accolades of their kind to be awarded based solely on the votes of viewers. And that’s important to the stars.
“Soap is, first and foremost, a fans’ medium, right?” offers Max. “It’s the one platform that is truly thinking about the audience at all times. It’s conversations happening in a café, pub or garage – and the audience feel seen in those moments.
“We were so incredibly blessed to have the fan reaction that we did for Ballum at EastEnders,” adds Max, speaking of his on-screen partnership with Tony Clay (Callum). “When you consider the support that is on-going seven years later from some really dedicated and lovely individuals, it’s very rare that you get that level of fandom from anything else.”
Following on from rumours that the British Soap Awards will not return, Max also spoke about the importance of continuing dramas being championed by the media.
“It’s a genre that I believe has been a staple in British culture coming up to 70 years,” he points out. “In that time, soap has helped thousands, if not millions of people deal with everyday issues and structured responses for how to deal with them.
“You also get the luxury of help lines every time there’s a traumatic storyline, which means that someone who needs help that day can reach out.
“I feel like all these things are important, but it’s also important for people to simply switch off for 30 minutes to watch somebody else’s life, especially in the world that we’re living in now. We have to continue investing in these shows that, for generations, have been adored.”