EastEnders actor Jack Ryder will not be returning to the BBC One soap, because his character is being killed off, producers have confirmed.

The 21-year-old actor, who is married to former Hear'Say star Kym Marsh, announced he was to leave the series in March.

Now producers have decided Ryder's character, Jamie Mitchell, will be killed after being run over by a car.

The south London-born actor has won a legion of fans since joining the soap in November 1998.

But his high-profile marriage to Marsh in August landed in him trouble with bosses after they sold rights to the event to a celebrity magazine, and they endorsed a menswear shop and a hotel in the coverage.

Jamie Mitchell was his first TV role, after producers spotted him in a theatre workshop.

Earlier this month it was announced that Barbara Windsor, who plays Ryder's screen aunt Peggy Mitchell, is taking a year-long break from the show.