Danny Dyer has finally said what he really thinks about EastEnders — and he didn’t hold back. In a furious tirade during a charity event at Wimbledon Club on Friday night, the former soap star launched a foul-mouthed attack on the show that made him a household name, dragging its storylines, co-stars, and even the production culture through the mud.
The 47-year-old actor, who played pub landlord Mick Carter for nine years, claimed the relentless workload left him addicted to prescription drugs and twice in rehab. “It messed a lot of people’s heads up. Most of them are lunatics, I’m telling you — institutionalised,” he declared.
In his blistering speech, Danny slammed the soap’s writers, calling many of the scripts “s**t” and openly mocking Mick’s romance with Janine Butcher as “mental.” He also condemned the decision to kill off Lola Pearce, arguing that actress Danielle Harold’s talent was “wasted.”
But he didn’t stop there. Danny called out his former co-stars Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie — who previously ran the Queen Vic as Kat and Alfie — calling them “cs” and accusing them of blanking him and Kellie Bright when they joined the show in 2013. “We just thought, ‘F these c***s, let’s show them something different,’” Danny said, revealing it took six months to feel accepted.
Despite earning a hefty £250,000 per year, Danny said the pressure was unbearable. “You earn good money, but you ain’t got time to go to a cashpoint. There’s no life.”
He even claimed producers went so far as to put antiseptic in the Queen Vic’s beer barrels to stop him from drinking on set.
Adding fuel to the fire, Danny blasted the BBC for what he described as a lack of care for the cast, saying they wouldn’t allow time off for family funerals — a claim the broadcaster strongly denies. A BBC spokesperson stated: “We have extremely robust and well-established procedures in place to safeguard the welfare of everyone who works on the show.”
Danny left EastEnders in dramatic fashion on Christmas Day 2022, when Mick disappeared off a cliff in a car chase and was presumed dead. Reflecting on that exit, he said he had become disillusioned with the role and felt his character had “lost his way.”
But if Friday night’s outburst is anything to go by, Danny hasn’t lost his voice — and he’s got no time for sugar-coating the truth.
