venn heard from a friend that "eastenders" were looking to cast ray, and said that he thought "i could play that guy!" so contacted his agent to be put forward for the part. his agent told him that the producers were already interested in him for the part. venn had previously worked with actor jamie foreman, who plays derek branning in the series, and when he discovered that foreman was a part of the show, it made him more determined to get the part of ray. he prepared 12 pages of his own back story for the character and imagined ray's life as a child. venn was eventually cast in the series, and was contracted for six months. venn started filming in november 2011. the character and casting were then announced on 15 november 2011. venn was a fan of "eastenders" since he was about 12 years old, so he felt it was "a real privilege to now be a part of television history." he said of his casting, "i have had the pleasure of working on many great productions with fantastic artistes such as morgan freeman and i have to say working on "eastenders" feels like it is up there with the best of them. "eastenders" is etched in british history and it is an honour and a pleasure to be part of it." the first scenes that venn filmed were with shona mcgarty (whitney dean), and venn stated that it felt like "the first day at school".