Ned

EastEnders newcomer Jamie Bamber, who plays Ned Hawkins on the BBC soap, has teased all about what’s ahead with Nicola Mitchell, and his thoughts on joining the show

EastEnders fans will recognise new recruit Jamie Bamber from huge shows, including BBC ’s Beyond Paradise and US hit Battlestar Galactica.

But as he joins the soap as newcomer Ned Hawkins, Jamie says Walford is one of the most iconic sets he’s ever stepped on in his whole career, which spans nearly 30 years. “Seeing it in person for the first time was a real thrill,” says Jamie, 53.

“What struck me most is how real it feels. It doesn’t feel like a television set at all. It genuinely feels like a place. Because it’s so lived in and familiar, it does a lot of the work for you as an actor.” One part of the famous set in particular has already won his heart.

Jamie tells us: “I love filming in The Queen Vic because it’s where so many characters and storylines collide. As Ned is new to Walford, a lot of his early scenes involve him observing people and taking everything in. The Vic is perfect for that because you get to watch the entire community interact around you.”

With Jamie’s wealth of experience in TV and film, he was surprised to be given a mentor when he started filming. When new cast members join the show, a current cast member is assigned to them as a chaperone, to look out for them while they settle in.

Jamie’s mentor is Ian Beale actor Adam Woodyatt, something Jamie says was incredibly exciting. He tells us: “I’d never experienced getting a mentor before on a job and wondered whether, at my age, it might be a bit late in life to suddenly get a mentor!

“I was genuinely touched because Adam came in on my very first day, despite it being his day off, just to introduce himself. He even stayed to watch my first take to make sure I was okay.” Jamie is joined by other new cast members including Holby City star Patricia Potter, Marian McLoughlin, Anna Constable and Felix Uff, who make up the Hawkins family.

This isn’t Jamie’s first time working with Patricia, who plays his character Ned’s wife Gemma, who is also the sister of existing character Nicola Mitchell. Jamie tells us: “We first crossed paths around 30 years ago when we briefly overlapped at drama school, and then we worked together on my second professional job, The Scarlet Pimpernel.

“I’ve always admired Patricia’s work and energy, so knowing I was coming into the show with someone whose company I already enjoyed made the whole experience much less daunting.” There are plenty of his new co-stars that Jamie has not worked with before though. Starstruck Jamie says filming alongside some of the soap’s biggest icons has left him pinching himself.

“My first scene featured several EastEnders legends, including Letitia Dean, Michelle Collins and Gillian Taylforth,” Jamie reveals. “I was mostly sitting there watching these incredible actors do what they do best. At one point, I genuinely had an out-of-body experience and thought, ‘What am I doing here?’

“These are characters and actors that have been part of British television history for decades. It felt surreal, but also incredibly special.” Ned makes his debut next week, while some of the family have already been onscreen briefly.

Next week, Ned and his wife Gemma head to Walford, followed by Gemma’s mother Rose, her sister Jodie, and Gemma and Ned’s son, Ryder. Ned’s caught in the middle of his sister-in-law Nicola’s feud with her mother Rose, leaving the Hawkins desperate to heal their rift.

We’ll also see Ned reconnect with his old friend Alfie Moon, who owns The Queen Vic with his wife Kat Slater. But while Ned initially appears as the perfect man, Jamie warns upcoming scenes could change this perception for viewers.

“Ned is somebody who appears very put together. He’s enjoyed a great deal of success in life, but when we meet him, everything has fallen apart and he’s having to start again.

“Ned certainly presents himself as the image of the perfect man, and he’s somebody who places a great deal of importance on maintaining appearances. Often, when someone works that hard to keep up appearances, it’s because there’s more going on beneath the surface.

“There’s a real depth to him, and as the weeks go on, we’ll start to peel back those layers and discover that Ned is a far more complex character than he first appears.” Jamie also hints that there is a secret Ned and Nicola are keeping to themselves, that viewers will not be let in on for the time being.

Jamie says: “It’s clear that Ned and Nicola know each other extremely well, but there’s also something unspoken between them. There’s a fascinating push-and-pull dynamic at play. You get the sense that there’s something that binds them together just as strongly as something keeps them apart.

“There are secrets and a history that neither of them is willing to talk about openly. Over time, viewers will discover exactly what lies behind that complicated relationship.”

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok, Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads.

If only. If Rob Pelinka could use the Dodgers’ blueprint to renovate, Lakers fans wouldn’t even be sweating this summer.

But, you know. Baseballs and basketballs, apples and oranges.

The windup and sales pitch are the same, though: Deliver a sustainable, high-rising, championship build. On time and … about that budget. One team has none. The other’s is tight.

In baseball, they wear caps. In the NBA, they’re compelled to stay under them.

In baseball, they can swing freely (for now). In basketball, they’re hamstrung by aprons.

Ned Colletti had it easier, and he lasted only two relatively successful seasons in his role as Dodgers general manager after Mark Walter’s Guggenheim Baseball Management group bought the ballclub in 2012.

Pelinka has it tougher as the Lakers’ general manager and president of basketball operations. But like Colletti before him, with Walter having purchased the majority stake in the Lakers, Pelinka is going to have to crash the hourglass and build a winner with haste. Er, the winner.

If the Lakers lay anything but an 18th brick on their championship foundation in the next couple seasons, Pelinka’s story probably is going to go a lot like Colletti’s.

When free agency opens Tuesday, Pelinka is just going to have to show us how creative he can be, how clever and cunning.

He already hit a grand slam with the Luka Doncic trade in 2025. In one of the NBA’s all-time heists, Pelinka brought the then-25-year-old Slovenian superstar to L.A. from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for essentially an aging and injury-prone Anthony Davis and just one first-round draft pick.

Before that, Pelinka hit another home run with Austin Reaves; a four-bagger so deep that Doncic’s undrafted backcourt-mate has now procured the proverbial bag. (Four years, $185 million worth of baggage to the Lakers.)

With those pillars cemented, Pelinka’s job is delivering the A-list center Doncic reportedly desires.

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire Slovenian superstar Luka Doncic. Can Pelinka build a winner around Doncic?

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Doesn’t matter that all the perceivable candidates — from the Utah Jazz’s Walker Kessler to the New York Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Myles Turner, the Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Jarrett Allen, the Mavericks’ Daniel Gafford, even old friend A.D. — sit on a spectrum of unlikely to unwise.

Still, the best plan: Make Doncic happy; make a run at Kessler.

He’s a 24-year-old, defensively adept big man who would be a great pickup, just hard to get. But whether it’s overpaying in restricted free agency or working out a sign-and-trade deal, pry him away from the Jazz.

After nailing down a center, Pelinka also needs to really hit on the margins. Because in the modern NBA, the marginal is major.

The current contenders have depth borne of seasons spent tanking and loading up in the draft on athletic, affordable young talent or, in the case of the recently crowned Knicks, having a leading man take $113 million less than he was eligible for, as Jalen Brunson effectively did, to be able to play with his best buds.

In L.A., the Lakers don’t really have the first option and shouldn’t ever expect the second.

But Pelinka doesn’t have to swing for the fences every time; he doesn’t need to wow us now, he needs to have wowed us later. Take swings like he did trading for Rui Hachimura or netting sharpshooter Luke Kennard.

Former Laker Pau Gasol, right, speaks with GM Rob Pelinka during a Lakers practice in 2025.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

No one bats 1.000, of course, not even Andrew Friedman, the architect of the Dodgers’ three World Series titles since taking over as president of baseball operations in 2014.

But for the Lakers’ potential $51 million of cap space, for all of this summer’s much-hyped optionality, Pelinka’s competitive new boss isn’t the type to forgive errors that are forever front of mind for the Lakers’ faithful.

Pelinka can’t strike out on free agent signees like Gabe Vincent and Kendrick Nunn. Can’t let someone like Alex Caruso walk. Can’t whiff on draftees like Dalton Knecht or Jalen Hood-Schifino — and better hope he hasn’t on this year’s selection, Cameron Carr, who fell to the Lakers at No. 24.

The wrinkle, this offseason: Last year’s Lakers — 41-year-old LeBron James, Hachimura, Kennard and, if he opts out, Marcus Smart — will be among the most attractive free agents on the market, and they’re proven fits for a team that reached the second round of the playoffs.

But merely re-signing those guys won’t improve the Lakers’ odds of getting past the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs.

And simply outspending those teams isn’t an option, either. So Pelinka is going to have to go bargain hunting, he’s got to find some hidden gems, pull some tricks out of his sleeve. Surprise us, like great general managers are supposed to do.

This is Pelinka’s opportunity to show us his blueprint for bringing another title to Los Angeles, to build a case for himself.