Christian Clarke is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by John Partridge. He made his first appearance on 17 January 2008. In September 2012, it was announced that Christian would leave the soap after Marc Elliott, who plays Christian's civil partner, Syed Masood, had decided to quit. Partridge felt it was the right time to leave as well. He departed on 15 November 2012. Partridge returned to the soap for two episodes on 19 and 20 May 2014, with the character attending the funeral of Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater). Christian returned once again during the episode broadcast on 17 February 2015 for Jane's wedding to Ian and left again on 20 February.