EastEnders star pays tribute to girlfriend Emmerdale actor Amy Walsh

Emmerdale's Amy Walsh who plays Tracey Metcalfe in the Yorkshire based soap, has been praised by her real-life partner Toby-Alexander Smith.

Amy is currently portraying the sensitive storyline of a new mother experiencing post-natal depression, and Toby-Alexander couldn't be prouder of her work.

After Amy's appearance on ITV's Loose Women, Toby-Alexander reacted online saying: "Not only smashed her @loosewomen interview but is also smashing her incredibly important storyline." - "Proud of you"  

When asked about Toby-Alexander's current role of Gray Atkins in EastEnders and the negative reaction from viewers, Amy said: "I mean, he's been quite lucky. But you do get a bit more online really than anything else. But I just say it's because you're really good, you're doing a good job, and that's all that matters" she said.

Amy with her popstar sister, Kimberly

"Again, his storyline is such an important one to get people talking and raising awareness, as long as he's doing that then his work is done." 

Toby-Alexander also revealed his experience of viewers reaction to his character on BBC 5 Live: "Obviously social media can be very loud. When people started directing it at Gray, that was when I was like, 'ok, we're doing our jobs here, people are calling out this behaviour, this behaviour is unacceptable'."

"And that's why we do it, for people to be able to recognise that there are people like Gray out there," the actor continued. "It may be a father, it may be an ex-boyfriend, it may be a brother, it may be a friend. It just gave people that platform to recognise those behaviours." 

EastEnders airs weeknights on BBC One and all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.