Partners in crime: EastEnders brothers ‘assaulted’

THE partner and ex-partner of EastEnders actors Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden were arrested over alleged assaults yesterday.

The Sun’s editor Rebekah Wade was questioned for eight hours over an alleged attack on her star husband Kemp. And, in a bizarre twist, it later emerged that McFadden’s former partner had also been arrested and then released over an alleged assault on him.

McFadden and Kemp play brothers Phil and Grant Mitchell in the BBC1 soap.

It was not clear if the incidents were linked.

Scotland Yard refused to confirm the names involved.

It is understood that despite the strange coincidence, the two incidents are not related.

Kemp’s spokesman was not returning calls for comment last night.

A spokesman for McFadden said: “He was involved in an incident with the police this morning.

“He was not arrested and will not be commenting.”

The woman involved is thought to have been McFadden’s ex-girlfriend Angela Bostock, who was involved in lurid Sunday newspaper claims about McFadden’s sex life.

McFadden, 46, stormed back into EastEnders last week as tough guy Phil.

It was the first time the Mitchell brothers appeared together with screen mother Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) in six years.

The soap was watched by an extra three million viewers as they uttered the line: “'Ello Mum.”

EastEnders was not commenting on the surreal events of the day.

Kemp’s three-week return means he is not under contract with EastEnders. But he is due to reprise his role once again in a four-month stint next year.

The alleged incident involving McFadden, who also appeared briefly in April, was described as a “private matter.”

EastEnders has denied speculation that the coincidence is a result of a publicity stunt to boost its ratings.

EastEnders has a history of its soap stars making their way into the news.

Last year soap chiefs axed Dirty Den actor Leslie Grantham, 58, after he filmed himself on a webcam naked and aroused in his EastEnders dressing room.

The Sun’s editor was arrested shortly after 4am and taken to a south London police station.

Kemp, 41, declined medical aid after sustaining a cut to the mouth.

Wade, 37, had met up yesterday with David Blunkett following his resignation as Britain’s Work and Pensions Secretary.

The pair are understood to have gone their separate ways in the early evening.

The Sun, which runs a campaign against domestic violence, was not commenting yesterday.