Danny Dyer credits EastEnders with saving him after 'bad film' tanked his career

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Danny Dyer credits EastEnders with saving him after
Danny Dyer credits EastEnders with saving him after 'bad film' tanked his career

Danny Dyer says TV soaps have more power to change society than politicians.

The actor, who was in EastEnders for nine years, highlighted the storyline when the soap’s character Johnny Carter (Sam Strike) came out to his dad, Dyer’s character Mick Carter. Dyer, 46, said: “I had a lot of guys contact me after the storyline about my son coming out, saying they came out the next day to their dads.

"Because of that. F***ing hell, that is a platform, that is powerful sh**. They listen to us more than these c*** politicians. When they get it right, it is f***ing amazing that show. Whatever it was, it worked. If you can come out to Danny Dyer… whatever that means… it is ok. The producers are very clever.”

Speaking at London’s British Film Institute, Dyer also admitted being cast as Mick Carter saved his career following some bad films. He said: “I had made too many bad films and I was reduced to going to nightclubs and waving off the balcony in places like Kidderminster.

Danny Dyer credits EastEnders with saving him after 'bad film' tanked his career qhiddtiqtxiuqinvDanny as Mick Carter in EastEnders (BBC/JACK BARNES/KIERON MCCARRON)

"I couldn’t put the kids through school anymore. I had f***ed it and then I get a call from Dominic Treadwell Collins, who asked me to come down and meet him at The Langham hotel and I had just about enough petrol to get there! It changed my life and it changed my f***ing career as well.”

EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likenessEastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likeness

Dyer also admitted he hammed up the cockney slang when he first joined the show in 2013. He said: "I absolutely bamboozled them with cockney slang. I did it just to wind them up “My first line: ‘has anyone seen my haddock?’ Haddock and Bloater is a motor. I have never really used the word haddock before but I wanted to do something different with it.

“I wanted to be an iconic character in EastEnders. I didn’t want to be shouty. I wanted it to be nuanced and play it down a bit. They gave me freedom with it.” Now Dyer is back working on TV dramas and films and has recently worked on new Disney series Rivals, based on the Jilly Cooper book.

He also spoke of his daughter Dani, who is now settled down with footballer Jarrod Bowen with children of her own. He said: “I love Jarrod. I am a very sensitive soul and I think I am quite a liberal parent and I am not very good at discipline. I am very much an affectionate man and I am not good at boll***ing them.

"My Dani has brought home some t***s and they are sitting around the table on a Sunday with my leg of lamb. So I suffered it. You can’t tell your children who to fall in love with and then she brought home... Jarrod who I love... all I want is for a man or a woman to worship the ground my daughter walks on. That’s all. And try not to let one tear drop from her eye. That’s all I ask. “

Mark Jefferies

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