Exclusive: BBC EastEnders actor reveals why Reiss really killed Debbie as sad secret exposed

EastEnders’ Reiss Colwell actor Jonny Freeman has had his say on his character’s killer antics (Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

EastEnders star Jonny Freeman has revealed what led to his character Reiss Colwell’s killer actions recently, and it’s not linked to his past.

Viewers questioned whether Reiss had harmed wife Debbie Colwell in the past, after some comments about their marriage. Debbie’s mother claimed she was planning to leave him just before her stroke a few years ago, and this was backed up by her will on Monday night. Debbie’s sad secret that she was unhappy in her marriage and did not love Reiss was revealed.

She left her husband nothing and hinted she thought he was creepy, just like Debbie’s mother had claimed. Brenda’s comments about there being a darkness with Reiss left many wondering if he had caused his wife’s stroke or maybe he had been violent.

Then of course Reiss killed Debbie at the care home in a recent episode, with his fiancée Sonia Fowler currently accused of the crime. But speaking to The Mirror at the Inside Soap Awards, actor Jonny hinted that there was nothing dark going on when the pair were together.

He suggested Reiss had no idea how Debbie felt or that she was going to leave him, and this was not what led to him killing her. Amid his money issues and the care home bills leaving him in debt, it doesn’t seem this was the motive for the killing either.

Instead, actor Jonny hinted that Reiss killed Debbie out of “mercy” and because he thought it’s what she would want. He told us: “I advocate for Reiss as he lost all of his money paying for her care, so in his mind he’s done right by her. Maybe not by killing her but even then I think in his mind, it was consensual and it was mercy, however mad that might be.”

Jonny also revealed all about Reiss’ reaction to the secret that Debbie was unhappy in her marriage and was planning on leaving him. He said: “No he didn’t know she didn’t feel the same way. think that’s been the worst of all of it, the worst thing that’s happened to him.

“He’s been involved in a complicated love story with one woman in a coma for many years, and that’s when he finds out his wife didn’t feel the same way. So in many ways out of all the things that have happened to Reiss in the past weeks, finding that out is the hardest thing to hear but he’s under a huge amount of pressure so we’ll have to see if there is a way out for him, but it doesn’t look good.”