‘Exhausted’ Dyer will be back on EastEnders, say BBC chiefs
EASTENDERS star Danny Dyer will be back on the show despite taking a break from filming amid rumoured concerns over his drinking, the BBC said yesterday.
The 39-year-old actor was reportedly urged to take the time off to “sort his life out”.
But television chiefs rejected claims that they had forced him to step aside.
“Danny is on a short break from EastEnders. This was not enforced by bosses, nor has he quit the show,” a spokesman said.
The actor, who plays pub landlord Mick Carter in the BBC show, joined the soap in 2013.
BBC bosses reportedly became concerned about his behaviour at the National Television Awards last month, just weeks after he said he was trying to quit drinking.
An EastEnders source said: “It was clear to onlookers he appeared very drunk at the awards ceremony. It is best that he takes some time out to sort his life out.
“He appears to be exhausted. As a result, Danny is not filming on the show at all. There is an enforced break that is expected to last a number of weeks.”
But the source added: “At the end of the day, he remains the biggest star of the show so everyone is determined to get him back to his best.”
Dyer has won two National Television Awards for Serial Drama Performance for his role as family man Mick, opposite on-screen wife Linda Carter, played by Kellie Bright.
Nightmare
The show’s producers face chaos over future storylines with Dyer off the set.
An insider said: “Having Danny off is a total nightmare. The storylines are worked out months in advance.
“A lot of scripts had to be torn up and it’s caused a lot of behind-thescenes chaos. It’s all anyone is talking about.”
The strain of working on EastEnders was described yesterday by former star John Partridge, who played Christian Clarke for four years until 2012.
He said of Dyer: “I’m sure he’s under enormous pressure. I’m sure he has a great response from people in the street.
“But it is relentless, the schedule there can be relentless, and I should imagine if he has got any problems, or anything like that, to try and deal with life outside of that – when you’re there 12, 13, or 15, 16 hours a day sometimes – that can be difficult.”
Dyer was best known before EastEnders for appearing in British films Mean Machine and The Football Factory, as well as fronting his own TV series, Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men.
He recently made headlines when he discovered that he is descended from William the Conqueror, Edward III and Thomas Cromwell in an episode of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?
He married childhood sweetheart Joanne Mas, 40, last year after she proposed to him on February 29.
EastEnders draws in around 7.5 million viewers each week.