EastEnders' James Bye wanted Martin to be more complex – so he's looking forward to Mr Darcy

The response to his death has been enormous but, luckily for fans, Bye won't be out of commission for long having already confirmed the role of Mr Darcy in a new stage production of Death Comes to Pemberley.

The play is adapted from PD James’s best-selling 2011 novel, which was written as a sequel to Jane Austen's iconic Pride and Prejudice and was previously the basis for a three-part BBC One series starring Matthew Rhys and Anna Maxwell Martin.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com Bye called this new part "a breath of fresh air".

He said: "I feel very sad to put Martin to bed and never be able to play him again. But the beauty of a character like Martin is he was very much the people's champion, he was a normal guy, whereas Darcy's obviously the other end of the spectrum and he's the upper echelons of society.

"He's never intentionally rude, but I'm quite looking forward to not being trodden on – Poor Martin was trodden on for the last 10 years!”

Bye added he was looking forward to the versatility of the role, and being able to dive into the more emotions of a darker, more complex part:

"Martin was very much a heart on his sleeve guy, whereas with Darcy everything is bottled up. So from an acting point of view, it's a gift.

"That's the sort of thing I was asking for from EastEnders for years, and we got to do the bad Martin and got to play those complexities for a short period of time, but the rest of the time, Martin was very much is what you see is what you get."

As for what we can expect from Bye's portrayal of Mr Darcy, the actor confirmed we would be finding the character in a very different stage of his life.

"It's not Pride and Prejudice," he said, "Elizabeth and Darcy are now very close and they've got their relationship sorted, so it's about how they overcome this murder that's happened on their land and how can they get through it together?"

But, if anyone was worried we wouldn't get classic Darcy brooding, he added: "Mr Darcy is still Mr. Darcy, so he's very pragmatic, he's arrogant and strong minded."

Joining him as Elizabeth Darcy is Jamie-Rose Duke, alongside Celia Cruwys-Finnigan as Georgiana Darcy and Endeavour's Sean Rigby as Colonel Fitzwilliam, while there are also roles for Paul Jerricho, Sam Woodhams, David Osmond and Mogali Masuku, with more cast to be announced soon.

A first look at the cast in their regency finery was released earlier this week, and Bye admitted he was already having fun with the part: "It's such a fun play, the script is great and they're going to really pull out all the stops.

"A couple of the cast are really talented musicians so they're going to be playing in certain scenes and hopefully the audience are going to feel really transported to this time."

The cast is still a month out from rehearsals, which he laughed was a "luxury" compared to the quick turn around of EastEnders episodes and he added that, if the opportunity arose, he's be more than happy to try more plays in future.

"I've been almost institutionalised for 10 years! So to come back out into the industry and just realise, not just how how busy it is, but how talented everybody is, is crazy. It's going to be hard going up against the amount of talent there is, but if I get offered more plays then I would definitely do them."

Where can I see James Bye in Death Comes to Pemberley?

Death Comes to Pemberley is set to open with a two-month run at The Mill at Sonning from Thursday 1st May before touring with dates at Windsor Theatre Royal, Cardiff New Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal, Guildford Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Bromley Churchill Theatre, Wycombe Swan, Brighton Theatre Royal and Richmond Theatre.

You can book tickets now via the official tour website or head over to ATG Tickets for more theatre.

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