Whether featuring on the well-known streets of Walford, or strutting his stuff on the UK’s biggest reality show, local boy Jamie Borthwick hasn’t been far from a TV screen in 2024.
The 30-year-old has enjoyed a busy year in and out of his comfort zone, combining his longstanding duty of portraying Jay Brown in EastEnders with participating in the 22nd series of Strictly Come Dancing, alongside partner Michelle Tsiakkas.
After triumphing in Strictly’s 2023 Christmas Special - with Nancy Xu - Borthwick’s adventure in the main running of the BBC competition came to an end in late November, when he became the ninth of 15 celebrities to be eliminated, just a week shy of the quarter-finals.
Before that though, the boyhood Hammer ticked off one of his lifetime ambitions by meeting West Ham Head Coach Julen Lopetegui and first-team stars Jarrod Bowen, Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell at the Rush Green Training Ground.
A regular member of the EastEnders cast since late 2006, who has won multiple awards for his performances in the soap opera, Borthwick is often seen at London Stadium, having grown up going to games at the Boleyn Ground and building connections with the Club.
While he has developed bonds with several familiar West Ham figures over the years, he admits that mixing with the current squad still gives him a special buzz, and he loves nothing more than cheering them on among the home crowd.
Tell us a bit about your childhood Jamie, and growing up as a West Ham fan.
I was born in Rush Green, and all my family are from east London, so I was a West Ham fan from birth, really. As soon as I was old enough, I was straight to Upton Park, and it’s been like that ever since!
My dad actually ran the Carpenter’s Arms pub outside the new ground, for about two years, so he was always over for games. It was similar at the old ground - we always used to go to the Upton Park Snooker Hall before matches, so our lives have always involved West Ham.
What are some of your earliest West Ham memories?
The first match I went to was against Liverpool at home, and it must’ve been when I was about five or six, so around 2000. I think we lost, and Steven Gerrard scored. I remember coming out of the ground and the queue for Upton Park station was right down the road, so we walked all the way to Plaistow, which seemed to take forever!
I have loads of great memories from going to games. I used to really enjoy the Millwall matches, that got pretty heated, and I remember being there when Carlos Tevez scored a brilliant free-kick against Spurs, in 2007. I actually missed it because I was getting a drink, but I remember hearing the roar and running back upstairs!
It was a great West Ham era when I was growing up, with the likes of Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole all just starting out. I’ve met Joe Cole a few times, who I first remember having a silly red ‘J’ in his hair back in the day!
You’ve formed friendships with a few Hammers over the years, haven’t you?
Joe Powell, who came up through the West Ham Academy and is now at Rotherham United, is a friend of mine, and I was at London Stadium in September 2018 when he came on for his debut against Macclesfield in the League Cup, and got an assist.
As I’ve got older, I’ve been able to get friendly with a couple of the other boys in and around the team. I’m good pals with Declan Rice, who was obviously the captain here before he moved to Arsenal.
As well as Joe Cole, I’ve also been lucky enough to meet likes of Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand too, and I even became quite pally with Sam Allardyce when he was the manager. He got me some tickets to Argentina v Croatia at Upton Park in 2014, when I got to meet Lionel Messi, so I’ll always be grateful to him for that!
Is there much West Ham chat on the set of EastEnders?
It’s an East End show, so there is a quite a big association with West Ham. Perry Fenwick [who plays Billy Mitchell] and Scott Maslen (Jack Branning) are both big fans, and so are a few of the prop boys. There are some fans of other clubs, but they know when to keep quiet because they’re usually outnumbered!
I’m good friends with Danny Dyer, who was in EastEnders until 2022, and whose daughter is engaged to Jarrod Bowen. We used to give him a bit of stick when they first started going out, about getting tickets and stuff, and really it is mad that one minute we were casually chatting about football sat in the Queen Vic, and then the next his future son-in-law is scoring the winner in a European final!
And you got to meet Jarrod on your recent tour of the training ground?
It was a real pinch-me moment to visit the squad at the training ground, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. These are the guys I was screaming for from a Shoreditch pub when they won the [UEFA Europa] Conference League, so to be able to chat to them gave me such a buzz.
I love being associated with West Ham, and I really felt the support of the fans during my time on Strictly, so thank you to everyone that voted. Hopefully I will see you at a Hammers game soon!
