Featured Image Credit: BBC/Instagram/@charlie__clements
Topics: TV and Film, BBC, London, Golf
Olivia Burke
Topics: TV and Film, BBC, London, Golf
Bradley Branning might have been dead since 2010 but the actor who played him has gotten a new lease of life with a new profession.
Charlie Clements made a name for himself in the soap world thanks to his four-year stint on Eastenders, which culminated in one of the most dramatic storylines viewers have ever seen.
His fiancée Stacey Slater, portrayed by Lacey Turner, had an affair with his father, Max Branning, but he was still willing to take the fall for her after police started sniffing round her about Archie Mitchell's murder.
And we mean that quite literally - as the scene where he tumbles off the rooftop of the Queen Vic is firmly engrained in most Brit's brains.
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Charlie eventually bowed out of his iconic role 13-years-ago and the London-born actor admitted in 2011 that he feared he would struggle to find work after such a high profile gig, adding that it was 'scary' to think about life after EastEnders.
He said: "It takes up so much of your life. I guess it's auditions, auditions, auditions for me. I just hope I get work."
Luckily, Charlie managed secure him a number of theatre roles in productions like The Haunting and Faith before returning to our TV screens in 2013.
He appeared in Casualty as well as CBC's Murdoch Mysteries, before later starring in the television documentary Elizabeth and Her Enemies in 2017.
But the 36-year-old seems to have hung up his acting hat for now and has embarked on a very different career path.
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When the pandemic hit, he put his acting career on hold and started working as a chef to help tide him and his family over.
He regularly shared snaps of his culinary creations on Instagram and even talked about launching his very own pizza restaurant.
However, Charlie has since ditched the kitchen to pursue another profession.
The star revealed back in August that he was 'swapping the chef whites for the greens', as he had bagged a job as a greenkeeper at a local golf course in Isleworth, West London.
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Although some might think it's a step down from a BBC soap, he loves his new role - which comes with a lot of responsibility.
Greenkeepers have to maintain the upkeep of the entire course to ensure golfers have a good quality playing surface.
He will be spending his days raking bunkers, moving tee markers to the right spot and making sure shrubbery is well groomed.
And funnily enough, his Eastenders character had a job as a golf caddy at the local golf course before joining Jay in the car lot.
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Sometimes life can imitate art in the strangest ways.