The first disabled actor on Eastenders is to play an Oxford student in the soap.

The character, Adam West, arrives in Walford to visit his mother, Manda, and falls for Libby Fox, the girlfriend of Darren Miller. He describes himself as "self-obsessed and a bit of a snob."

Executive producer of the programme, Diederick Santer, praised actor David Proud, who suffrs from spina bifida. saying, "He's a fine young actor with a wonderfully dry comic delivery, playing an interesting - and possibly rather irritating - character."