| James Willmott-Brown | |||||||||||||
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| EastEnders character | |||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | William Boyde | ||||||||||||
| Duration | 1986–1989, 1992, 2017 | ||||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 114 20 March 1986 | ||||||||||||
| Last appearance | Episode 5626 28 December 2017 | ||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||
| Introduced by |
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| Book appearances | Taking Chances | ||||||||||||
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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 instigated a feud with his business rival Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). Willmott-Brown then developed a romantic obsession with his employee Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), which sparked the events of the character raping her in 1988.
Following his imprisonment for Kathy's rape, Willmott-Brown made a brief comeback in 1992 after he moved back into Albert Square; however, he was forced to leave by Kathy's former husband Pete (Peter Dean) just weeks later. After an absence of 25 years, Willmott-Brown returned on 22 September 2017 as the show's hidden main 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 relationship with Kathy by controlling the Square had ultimately failed, and he was left bedridden and disowned by both his son and daughter for his actions.