James Willmott-Brown

James Willmott-Brown (also credited as Willmott-Brown and Mr Willmott-Brown) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by William Boyde. The character originally appeared in Albert Square from 1986 to 1989, where he established the square's second pub – "The Dagmar" – and embarked on a conflict with his business rival Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). It was then Willmott-Brown then developed a romantic obsession with central protagonist Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), who started out as his employee up until their relationship took a disturbing turn of events when he raped Kathy in 1988; this led to Willmott-Brown becoming hated on the square, getting embroiled in a feud with Kathy's husband Pete (Peter Dean) in the process.

Following his imprisonment for Kathy's rape, Willmott-Brown made a brief comeback in 1992 after he moved back into Albert Square until both Kathy and Pete forced him to leave after confronting him over the impact of his past actions towards them. Following an absence of 25 years, Willmott-Brown returned on 22 September 2017 as the show's overarching antagonist upon being revealed to be the boss of Max Branning (Jake Wood) in their vengeful plot to destroy the square; with Willmott-Brown serving as the true mastermind behind the events in Max's revenge story arc carried out by his company, Weyland & Co. The character departed once again on 28 December 2017 after his scheme to recoup his so-called romance with Kathy by controlling the Square had ultimately failed, and he was left bedridden upon being disowned by both his son and daughter for his actions.