Danny Dyer says EastEnders is now "s**t": Star who played Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter hits out at BBC soap

EastEnders is now "s**t", according to former star of the BBC soap, Danny Dyer. The actor - who portrayed Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter between 2013 and 2022 - slammed the soap while speaking at a charity event on Friday (May 9).

As well as hitting out at the show, 47-year-old Dyer revealed he was often drunk on set, took Valium and diazepam before scenes, and found other cast members made life “tricky” when he joined the long-standing show.

Asked during a Paul Strank Charitable Trust event in Wimbledon, south London, what he thought of EastEnders since he left, the dad-of-three said: “S**t now though, ain’t it. Serves them right.”

He went on: “I will be honest, it is a very clicky place to work. We took the pub over from Jessie Wallace and Shane Ritchie. Kat and Alfie had an 11-year run and then they want to get rid of them.

“So they brought us in and they had the hump. That was getting tricky. I was like, ‘What’s the matter with these people, I’ve not made this call?’. So there was a lot of people blanking us when we turned up.”

The actor said he enjoyed his first three years in Albert Square, but changes to the team overseeing the show saw things go downhill from there. “I really cherish those first three years,: he went on. “Then a new producer came in and sacked every f***er. It is a very ruthless job. I learned a lot. Nine years was enough for me.”

Dyer also lambasted the BBC, saying there was no "duty of care" towards stars as they undertook a gruelling schedule of draining scenes, adding: “In a film you properly cry and go to a dark place. You have time to recover. But on soap, you ain’t. On a soap, it f**** a lot of people’s heads up. I tell you most people in soap are off their nut. You meet them on the street and they’re f***ing lunatics, I’m telling you.

“If someone dies in your family, they won’t even let you go to a f***ing funeral because it is such a machine. There wasn’t much duty of care there.”

The BBC hot back, however, saying: “We would never discuss an individual’s private matters however, we do not recognise these claims. EastEnders has extremely robust and well established procedures in place to safeguard the welfare of everyone who works on the show.”

Having suffered from drink and drug problems in the past, Dyer revealed how he would down pints on the EastEnders set, before bosses stepped in.

“When I first arrived the pints were real,” he told the audience. “I was slipping and sliding around having a few lagers and they found out, so they started to put TCP in the f***ing beer. I was off my nut for a lot of that job, I’ve got to say. I was on a lot of valium and diazepam. Still got that f***ing job done somehow.”

Since leaving the Square, Dyer's career has been on the rise, including the star landing a BAFTA nomination for his role in Sky comedy, Mr Bigstuff, as well as receiving rave reviews for his performance as Freddie Jones in the television adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals.

“I was a snobby f***er going, 'I will never go in EastEnders', looking down my nose at it,” he said. “(But) it saved my f***ing career. I’d be f***ed without it.”

And the success is running in the family, with daughter Dani’s appearance on Love Island also giving her dad an unexpected earnings boost. “My wages tripled when my daughter won Love Island,” he said. “Honestly, I was the father of the f***ing year and I’d done f*** all. I thought, what a touch.”

He is currently filming the second series of Rivals and said the determination he had shown so far was key to achieving. “It is just a matter of never giving up, really," he added. "Especially in our world where you get used to a lot of rejection. I’ve never faded into the shadows and always thought ‘No, f**k it, I want to do something, I want to get out the council estate and earn a few quid’.”

But looking ahead, he said he wants to pursue a different line of roles - including playing " a gay aristocrat".