EastEnders fans have questioned the absence of ‘missing’ character Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) in recent scenes.

The BBC soap favourite has not been seen in the soap in recent weeks, despite his family dealing with Phil Mitchell’s (Steve McFadden) mental health crisis.

This week, he has also been missing from scenes as his stepdaughter Lexi Pearce (Isabella Brown) has begun to question where her grandfather is, not knowing he is was receiving treatment in a mental health unit.

Confused fans of the BBC soap picked up on Jay’s lack of screen time, with one writing on Reddit: ‘Anyone else noticed he seems to of just disappeared.

‘I think the last time he was on screen was when he had that conversation with Phil in his house a few weeks back.’

Another said: ‘He’s been starved of screentime for absolutely ages now which irritates me because he’s one of my favourites and Jamie is a fantastic actor.’

However, there is a simple explanation as to why Jay is missing.

Scenes that are currently airing on screen would have been filmed around January time – which is when Jamie was embarking on a nationwide arena tour with his Strictly Come Dancing co-stars.

The actor appeared on last year’s series of the BBC ballroom show, finishing in seventh place with professional dance partner Michelle Tsiakkas.

The couple were one of seven couples to then take the show on the road earlier this year.

The Strictly tour wrapped up on 9 February, meaning Jay fans will likely see Jamie back on screen in EastEnders next month.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 “𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆 & 𝑾𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆: 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠.𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜” 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬

One fan remarked: ‘Hopefully he’ll get a good story in the second part of this year once he’s back as I love Jay and have started to miss his presence.’