Former EastEnders actor Joseph Shade has appeared in court on 11 counts of sexual abuse charges on four teenage girls.
The ex-actor – who played a young Peter Beale in the BBC soap from 1998 to 2004 – denies the charges.
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He is accused of sexually abusing four girls aged between 13 and 17 between 2012 and 2015.
He denies six counts of causing or inciting a child under 18 to engage in sexual activity and four counts of causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity.
He has also been accused of one count of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.
The youth worker was investigated by Norfolk Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit.
Shortly after, he was charged with 11 counts last October.
Late last year he pleaded not guilty to the charges at Norwich Crown Court during a 10-minute hearing.
He pleaded not guilty to the allegations.
Shade was set to appear in court yesterday (July 31) but the hearing was changed to today (August 1).
The trial is set to last from five to six days.
Peter was introduced into the soap in 1993 along with his twin sister Lucy, and was originally played by Francis Brittin-Snell as a baby and toddler from 1993 to 1996.
Shade then took over the role and played Ian Beale’s son for six years before his departure in 2004.
The youngster was then played by James Martin from 2004 until 2006 before being replace by Thomas Law who played teenage Peter from 2006 to 2010.
In 2013 Ben Hardy took on the part, but left in 2015.