If a member of your family walked through the door one day with a completely different face, that would be pretty weird, right? But in Soapland, that's just called recasting – and no-one bats an eyelid.
For practical reasons, soaps have a long history of replacing characters' faces for all manner of reasons – from the original actor choosing to leave but producers wanting the character to stay, to child actors growing up and not wanting to be on a soap for the rest of their lives – or sometimes the actor is just not very good and needs changing.
But who are the most recast characters in UK soap? Glad you asked.
Some rules – we're only going with characters in the shows at the moment who are part of the main casts. Plus, if a part was shared among a number of tiny baby actors in the first few years of the character's life, we've not counted each one separately as it just gets too complicated. Where characters have had the same number of actors, we've ordered them arbitrarily, because we can.
14. Victoria Barton (Emmerdale) – recast twice
As is the case with many on our list, Vic was born on screen and we've watched her grow up. She's technically Emmerdale's longest-serving female character, and unless you're Tom Cunningham in Hollyoaks, you're bound to be played by a number of different actors while writers figure out what kind of character you are beyond primary school age.
Victoria Sugden, youngest child of Emmerdale legend Jack and second wife Sarah, came along in 1994. Until she was two, she was played by Jessica Heywood. Hannah Midgley came along in 1996, but it's current Vic Isabel Hodgins who's played her the longest, having taken over in 2006.
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13. Martin Fowler (EastEnders) – recast twice
Martin was in EastEnders' first ever episode back in 1985, albeit as a foetus, as parents Pauline and Arthur were given the news they were expecting a later-in-life third child by Dr Legg. The first baby to be born in the show, he was played by the same child actor, Jon Peyton-Price, from birth until 1996 when James Alexandrou became 'Moody Teenage Tearaway Martin' for the next 11 years.
Seven years after Alexandrou's exit, Martin was back in 2014, all grown up in the shape of 'Family Man Martin' James Bye. Viewers have seen darker storylines for Martin more recently after James suggested a new direction for his character.
12. Daniel Osbourne (Coronation Street) – recast twice
The youngest offspring of Ken Barlow (he was 55 when he got Denise pregnant), Daniel was initially played by kiddy actor Lewis Harney until the age of 2, when his mum upped sticks and left Weatherfield. We didn't see him again until he was a football and heavy metal-loving 12-year-old played by Dominic Holmes in 2007, but the father/son reunion was short-lived.
Then in 2016, Daniel came back into his dad's life following Ken's life-threatening stroke – now played as an adult by Rob Mallard, perfectly cast (and styled) as a young Ken but with added abandonment issues. A few months later he pushed his dad down the stairs – families, eh?
11. Nick Tilsley (Coronation Street) – recast twice
Born in December 1980, Nick was played by Warren Jackson in his younger years, when he was affectionately known as Nicky. In 1996, Warren stood down from the role of Gail's eldest son in order to concentrate on his GCSEs. However, in 1997, Corrie bosses opted to recast the part rather than bringing him back – bringing in soap hunk Adam Rickitt to play Nick instead.
Causing an instant reaction with his floppy hair and six pack, Adam portrayed Nick on and off until 2004. He later landed subsequent soap roles in Shortland Street and Hollyoaks.
In 2009, Ben Price landed the role of Nick and has played the character on and off ever since.
10. Ryan Connor (Coronation Street) – recast twice
Ryan arrived in Weatherfield with his mum Michelle in 2006 and was originally played by young actor Ben Thompson. In late 2010, Corrie bosses decided to write the character out.
In 2012, Ryan was back with a new "bad boy" direction, which saw Sol Heras step into the role. However, he only stuck around for a year.
In 2018, Ryan was recast again as Ryan Prescott took over the part. Even though Michelle has now left the cobbles, the Corrie gods have decided to keep Ryan (both character and actor) on the street.
9. Aadi Alahan (Coronation Street) – recast twice
Aadi and his twin sister Asha were both portrayed by triplets Hannah, Harris and Ria Ahmed after being born in 2006. However, the Alahan twins only appeared on screen for a few weeks before leaving with their mum Sunita.
When Sunita returned with her kids in 2009, Zennon Ditchett secured the role of Aadi and stayed with Corrie for an impressive ten-year stint. However, Zennon ultimately decided to step away from Soapland to concentrate on his education.
From 2020, the role of Aadi has been portrayed by newcomer Adam Hussain.
8. Sarah Sugden (Emmerdale) – recast three times
Sarah – daughter of Andy Sugden and Debbie Dingle – was born on the show in 2005. As a baby, she was originally played by Lily-May Bartley and Lucy Warren, however Lucy went on to portray the role solely.
Emmerdale recast Sarah in 2006 when Amber Child-Cavill took over the part, while a second recast came the following year when Sophia Amber Moore was brought on board to play her.
In 2017, Katie Hill landed the role of Sarah as producers made plans to give her more grown-up storylines. Katie has stuck around ever since and Sarah looks set to continue causing trouble for the Dingles for some time to come.
7. Tracy Barlow (Coronation Street) – recast three times
Born to Deirdre and Ray Langton in 1977, Tracy Lynette Barlow (Ken later adopted her when he married Deirdre) was played by Christabel Finch when she was only 15 days old, and for the next six years. It was two years before Tracy was recast even though she wasn't written out, with her parents famously explaining her absence by saying she was upstairs 'playing tapes'. She eventually reappeared as cutesy pigtail-wearing Holly Chamarette in 1985.
Dawn Acton took over in 1988 and stayed for over a decade, creating the mardy, mildly bolshy brunette template that Kate Ford inherited in 2002 and has played ever since. Considering how bitchy and villainous Ford's incarnation became, it makes you wonder what Trace was really doing up in her room in those missing years – Satanic rituals?
6. Bobby Beale (EastEnders) – recast four times
Son of Ian and Laura Beale, Bobby was born in 2003 and was originally played by Kevin Curran. Alex Francis took over from 2007, sticking around until 2012.
From 2013, Rory Stroud took over from Alex but only stayed for a year. Recast three was unveiled in 2014 when Eliot Carrington became Bobby, just in time for the game-changing 'Who Killed Lucy?' storyline which has arguably defined his character ever since.
Eliot's version of Bobby was written out in 2016, when his character was locked away for killing his sister, but he appeared one last time for a cameo appearance in 2017.
From 2019, Bobby has been brilliantly played by young actor Clay Milner Russell, with storylines exploring the character's desire for redemption after his crime.
5. Amy Barlow (Coronation Street) – recast five times
Tracy's daughter has also been portrayed by a number of different faces since being born in February 2004. Holly Bowyer and Rebecca Pike initially shared the role, but Holly left after a month and Rebecca stayed until 2005.
The first recast came in July 2005 when Louisa Morris took over from Rebecca for a couple of months, while the second aired in September that year when twins Rachel and Sarah Corker appeared as Amy for a couple of episodes.
Recast three happened when Madison Hampson stepped into Amy's shoes from late 2005 until early 2006.
In 2006, a fourth recast (keeping up?) saw Amber Chadwick arrive as Amy. Amber stuck with the role for longer than her predecessors, but in 2010, show bosses took the opportunity to recast Amy again to coincide with the death of her great-grandmother Blanche and Tracy's return from prison.
Elle Mulvaney secured the part and has stayed with the show for ten years so far, showing Amy's journey into a young adult.
4. Jamie Tate (Emmerdale) – recast five times
While newer Emmerdale fans will only know the grown-up, mopey version of Jamie, he appeared in the show as a young child in the '90s. Between 1996 and 1999, he was portrayed by a number of different young actors: Jake Meays, Elliott Suckley, Sam Silson, Oliver Carroll and Bradley White.
Jamie left the show with his mum Kim in 1999, when he was still a toddler. However, he made a big return all grown-up in 2019, heading back to the village to land a job at the local vets surgery.
3. Ben Mitchell (EastEnders) – recast five times
Soap fans often make jokes about the number of times EastEnders bosses have recast Ben, but surprisingly he isn't top of the rankings in our list. From Ben's on-screen birth in 1996, he was played by Matthew Silver. Morgan Whittle took over from 1999 to 2001.
In 2006, Ben returned to the Square from South Africa following the apparent death of his mum Kathy. Charlie Jones played him until 2010, when Joshua Pascoe took over and the storyliners started to take the character in a darker direction.
Joshua's version of Ben left the show in 2012 when he faced punishment for the death of Heather Trott. After Ben had served his time behind bars, he was released from prison in 2014 and was played by Harry Reid.
Harry was written out in 2018, but as ever, you couldn't keep Ben out of Walford for too long. Current actor Max Bowden took over from 2019 and the character is currently more popular than ever – in part thanks to the much-praised pairing of Ben with Callum Highway.
2. Peter Beale (EastEnders) – recast six times
Ian Beale's long-suffering son has come and gone from Walford many times over the years, with a wide variety of actors playing the role. The baby version of Peter was played by Francis Brittin-Snell between 1993 and 1996. Afterwards, viewers were introduced to Alex Stevens (1997-1998), Joseph Shade (1998-2004) and James Martin (2004-2006).
Thomas Law played a popular incarnation of Peter from 2006 until 2010, when the character was written out. Future X-Men actor Ben Hardy took over from 2013, playing the character through the memorable 'Who Killed Lucy?' storyline. He left in 2015 to crack Hollywood.
Following a five-year break, EastEnders brought back Peter again this year, casting Dayle Hudson in the part and sparking many jokes about how the character was suddenly much taller.
1. Peter Barlow (Coronation Street) – recast six times
It's hard to imagine anyone other than Chris Gascoyne as the brooding, formerly booze-addicted Barlow, and he's certainly played him longer than anyone else, but since the character was born on screen in 1965 there have been several recasts. John Heannau played baby Peter until he was 5, with little Chris Dormer briefly taking over in 1970 for a year.
After Peter's mum Valerie died following a tragic accident with a hairdryer in 1971, Ken struggled as a single dad and sent his son (and twin sister Susan) to live with his in-laws in Scotland, meaning we only saw Peter sporadically through his childhood, each time with a new face: Mark Duncan (1971), Linus Roache (Ken Barlow's real-life son played Peter in 1975, 35 years before he played Ken's secret love child Lawrence Cunningham), and Joseph McKenner (1977).
Off-screen, Peter joined the navy and didn't appear as an adult until 1986 – played by David Lonsdale – when he popped back for Susan's wedding to Mike Baldwin.
Gascoyne rocked up for Corrie's 40th-anniversary live episode in December 2000 and has given us the definitive Peter (on and off) for nearly 20 years.
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