The Jerseyman has become the Island’s first major soap star after landing the role of Paul Coker in the BBC’s flagship soap, and millions of viewers will watch the character’s first appearance in Albert Square on Monday.
Family members will gather at the Labeys’ Grouville home and celebrate with champagne and fish and chips as the 22-year-old former Grouville School and Victoria College student’s first episode airs.
It was recently revealed that Paul will become the new love interest of popular character Ben Mitchell, for which he is already attracting a great deal of national press attention.
Speaking to entertainment website Digital Spy, Mr Labey, who joined the cast in March and recently attended the British Soap Awards, said: ‘I’ve been filming for two months now.
‘I started filming on 17 March. It’s crazy – it’s gone so quickly.
‘My character, Paul, is a bit of a troublemaker. He’s come back from his travels so in the first episodes I am ridiculously tanned.
‘Paul is openly gay. He’s had an amazing relationship with his grandmother and has never had to make a point of coming out.
‘It’s not like he’s camp or anything, he’s just that way inclined. He comes back and he takes a fancy to Ben.
‘Paul also stirs up a few touchy subjects. He causes a bit of mischief.’
The actor spent his youth performing in local productions, was heavily involved with the Grouville Battle of Flowers team for a number of years, and performed on stage at Jersey Live in 2011, playing guitar and singing one of his original songs.
Since graduating last year from the Doreen Bird College of Performance, he has already performed in London production In The Heights, starred in the film Soft Lad, about a young man who falls in love with another man, and performed in a West End production of White Christmas.
‘The audition process went really quickly.
‘Since I told my family they’ve been watching the show religiously. My mum is beside herself!
‘I’ve gone from not watching soaps to being absolutely surrounded by them.’
His character, Paul, will be the grandson of Les and Pam Coker, Albert Square’s resident undertaker and flower stall holder, and early scenes will see him discover his grandad having secret trysts with another woman.
In an interview with the Radio Times, Mr Labey said: ‘Paul is lovable and has just come back from his travels, so he’s all about partying, having a drink and flirting quite a bit.
‘He’s had a good time in Turkey, so he’s a confident guy, so he’ll definitely take a fancy to anyone who catches his eye!”
‘He is also a bit of a troublemaker. When I’m filming scenes with other cast members, they keep on saying afterwards, ‘Oh, I’m not sure about you, you’re trouble!’.
‘In the case of Pam and Les, Paul will do anything for his nan. And likewise, she for him. So it’ll be interesting to toy with different ideas and see what happens.’
Speaking to Digital Spy, Mr Labey continued: ‘It’s great to work with Lin Blakley and Roger Sloman as they’re like my surrogate grandparents. They’re beautiful and lovely people to work with.
‘On screen, Paul is a bit of nana’s boy and he will have a good cry to his nan, but to everyone else he puts on this 21st century persona. Every 20-year-old does these days!
‘I think that Paul fancies the harder, bigger, muscly tattooed guys, but Ben’s got this Mitchell persona with the stuff he does, the things he gets up to and the arguments he gets involved in.
‘That all excites Paul. He’s drawn to that, as well as the tease of trying to get Ben to come out because obviously he’s still involved with Abi. He enjoys that, it’s playful.
‘The best thing for me is that the families which Paul is involved in are so one scale or the other. He’s got the Cokers, who are this quietly gossiping, quite sneaky pair, but everyone loves them. I think the audience quite love them too – Pam has a flower stall and everyone loves her. There’s a mystery about them, but as a whole, and towards Pam moreso I suppose, there’s a real love. The audience have taken to her.
‘On the other hand, you have the Mitchells who I’ve got involved in and there are completely different connotations with them.’
His first episode of EastEnders airs on BBC1 on Monday at 8 pm.
