Danny Dyer takes aim at EastEnders

Viewers have also been quick to take the mick out of the ‘new’ Queen Vic following its major structural damage in February…

Danny Dyer — beloved former EastEnders geezer and one of Albert Square’s biggest names in recent memory — had a few choice words about his old BBC overlords at a recent charity event The Sun reports.

According to Danny, their “duty of care” was more of a suggestion than an actual practice. Danny claims they were so considerate, they wouldn’t even let him attend a family member’s funeral because, in television, soap drama waits for no one.

He also mentioned in his conversation about the 40-year-old saga that he ended up having a stint in rehab — and the scripts were there to make him feel worse as he also attacked the quality of some of the plots.

The tabloid reports ‘fans and celebs including Patsy Kensit, 57, were at Wimbledon Football Club in South West London on Friday for the charity night with Danny.‘ The performer who played landlord Mick Carter for nine years told the event guests,

“I was off my nut for a lot of that job. I was squinting a lot for a couple of years, a lot of Valium and Diazepam. You have 30 pages a day you’ve got to learn. There’s no f***ing about. You organically make the scene work, you rehearse nothing. It f***s your nut up. I ended up in rehab twice.”

2013: Mick becomes landlord of the Queen Vic. / BBC

Danny joined EastEnders in 2013 and stayed for nine years, before becoming tired of the way his character was going. “Not so much in Corrie, but in EastEnders it’s so dark.” the newspaper quotes Dyer, where he adds, “You earn good money, but you ain’t got time to go to a cashpoint. You have no life. The amount of birthdays I missed. If someone dies in your family they won’t even let you go to the funeral. It’s such a machine.”

He also spoke about, ironically in the week the BBC launch their Wellbeing Week, a lack of wellness he felt at the BBC Elstree Centre where the programme is made. He said, “There’s not much duty of care. That’s the truth… On EastEnders there is no messing about and you’ve got to do it. It’s the hardest part of our job. I’d love to see A-list actors come in and do it, they’d crumble. You’ve got to be on it.”

Mick was last seen in 2022 seemingly being washed out to sea. This followed the breakup with his wife Linda (Kellie Bright) which many viewers noted was a very mis-placed plot, considering the well-established history of Mick and Linda. On that plot which saw him become romantically involved with Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) he noted, “You’ve got to sell this s***, and a lot of it is s**t. You’re like, ‘What the f *** is this?’. Mick with Janine was mental.” 

The Daily Mail also note that Danny attacked some of his former soap colleagues. ‘There were a lot of people blanking us when we first turned up and me and Kellie thought “You know what, f**k these c***s, let’s get together and show them something different” – we had to prove ourselves over six months.’ The newspaper adds, ‘Calling out co-stars Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie, Danny brazenly branded them ‘c***s’ as he claimed they had blanked both him and his onscreen wife Kellie Bright.’ The article notes that Jessie and Shane had played the previous Queen Vic landlords and Danny felt they ‘had the hump’ because his character had taken over the famous bar.

2022: Final story, Mick is washed out to sea / BBC

EastEnders told The Sun that, they ‘do not recognise these claims.’ They added that the four-times-a-week saga ‘has extremely robust and well-established procedures in place to safeguard the welfare of everyone who works on the show.’

It’s not just Danny who has been speaking out about the Walford based saga. Viewers have been having a good laugh this week at the ‘new’ Queen Vic, which was unveiled on May 8th.

It seems the two main UK soaps – Corrie and ‘Enders have issues with changing their pubs look externally and internally – all the other sets can move on and modernise, but for some reason not the boozers. There are a couple of exceptions to being stagnate when it comes to bars; Hollyoaks and Emmerdale both have with each revamp to The Dog in the Pond and The Woolpack evolved rather than recreated. And in the past shows such as Brookside and Crossroads updated their social meeting points to be different from the former style.

To mark the 40th anniversary of EastEnders back in February the Queen Victoria exploded, with part of the upper floor collapsing into the pub, and several areas severely damaged. It saw the character of Martin (James Bye) killed off and the return in a vision of original landlady Angie Watts (Anita Dobson) seen by daughter Sharon (Letitia Dean). It all indicated a reset, moving into the next forty years, the new era.

Only. it isn’t. Creatively nothing has moved forward or changed. It’s the same old.

The Queen Vic was blown up earlier this year, which saw part of the upper floor collapse into the bar / BBC

The pub, remarkably, considering the apparent major structural damage showcased in the 40th live episode has a few new light fittings, soft furnishings and pictures. Even the wallpaper is the same as before the destruction. Tony Warren once said that ‘as long as your setting is realistic and what happens to it is believable you can present any story in front of it’. So, it hasn’t gone un-noticed by viewers that the ‘new’ Queen Victoria being nothing more than a slightly changed ‘old’ Queen Victoria is rather farcical.

It’s difficult to pinpoint when telly execs got stuck in their way over the pubs, The Queen Vic inside and out changed to a very different look twice in the 1990s and the interior after its first fire was nothing like what had gone before. However, since then – apart from a brief exterior deviation fifteen years ago, which didn’t last too long – the exterior has remained red. That in itself not particularly realistic. Here’s what viewers have been saying…

Word on the Web

“Not watched tonight’s episode yet. Is the Queen Vic bust still on the bar?! May aswell be cuz sod all else has changed.” said Linsay on X

“So lazy in that you had the chance to give the Vic at least some new wallpaper, tables and chairs” – Fer on X

“Can you give us the details of the builders please? Anyone who can work this fast…… They weren’t some of the builders who rebuilt Japan in a matter of weeks after its earthquake by any chance?” – Marshall on X

“What a disappointment the Vic is” – Ashley on X

“So did the builders have a time machine to go back and get more of the same ugly decor?” – Steve on X

1985: The first on-screen look for the Queen Vic was supposed to have been brown since the 1960s. In a special episode entitled Civvy Street, set during World War II, the Queen Vic exterior was seen in varying shades of green. / BBC

“The only thing that’s changed is the bars (pumps) and the sign outside” – Antonia on X

“Would it have killed them to update the dowdy interior of the Queen Vic a bit” – Odd Polls on X

“It’s exactly the same (laugh emoji)” – Wonka on X

“So after all that its exactly the same? you could have done anything and you made it the same.” – Fragstar on X

“The 2010 look set has made its official return for the reopening on VE Day 2025.” – Modern TV Gold on X

“It’s ridiculous that you’ve put the exact same wallpaper up again. No pub would do it. You could have got similar if you love that design so much.” – Paul on X

Not afraid of change: The first revamp saw the pub exterior entirely a new colour scheme. In 2010 a short-lived evolution was later reversed

“Why does the vic look EXACTLY the same? What was the point of blowing it up? They got all the same wallpapers and furniture did they? What a waste of an opportunity. So it was all just to kill off Martin was it?” – K on X

“What on earth was the point in the explosion? It’s exactly the same, even the wallpaper. So unrealistic and such a depressing climax. We wanted to see something a little different.” – Darren on X

“It’s the same….waa expecting a refurb. I guess they don’t have the funds for set upgrades” – Welshy on X

“What a massive disappointment. Waiting in anticipation to see a fresh look – entirely possible AND keeping it traditional- but it’s exactly the same. And covering yourselves with a few words in the script about the stockists still having the old wallpaper! Boring, boring, boring” – Michelle on X

“Whoever decided to make the pub look exactly the same should never work in TV again. What a moron.” – Gabby on X

“And……nothing’s changed!” – FormulaLunch on X

Changes, some refurbishments have been more radical than others. / BBC

“Pathetic! Not even 2bothered it only took a short time 2 rebuild, but very underwhelming seeing it looking EXACTLY the same!! Didn’t need to change the layout but was the perfect chance to have changed the colours, added new things…wasted! Bust survives anything-understandably!” – Cher P on X

“That much structural damage and it was somehow rebuilt and decorated within 2 months and I say decorated loosely seeing as everything is exactly the same.” – Neil B on X

“So irritating that it looks exactly the same.” – Morgan S on X

“Basically you kept the pub virtually the same, with the same decor, despite the fact it was blown up. Why not start a new era with the pub with a change in decor?” – Stephen W on X

“So they finally had the ONE chance to redecorate the Vic and make it more modern and the writers couldn’t even come up with a new design. This show is stuck in the past. The fact they had George give a “wink wink” line about “they had stock left of our old wallpaper, uncanny” is a slap in the face. Because it means the writers knew that viewers would spot the nonsense and they STILL decided to put it in.” – – Walford Woes on X

“Why is the decor perpetually stuck in the 80s? Do they live in a timewarp in the square?” – Tom on X

Previous style, how the Queen Vic looked before the 2025 explosion / BBC

“So, it’s the exact same set. How boring. Could they modernise it a little bit? Maybe a few booths and lighter wood, bright wallpaper. But no. What a wasted opportunity to become a more modern pub!” – SD on X

“Embarrassing shit, it’s the exactly the same” – Letcha123 on X

“So the Vic blew up, reopens and looks exactly the same as before down to the last detail ? You must think your viewers are total idiots.” – Real Paddy on X

“I’m fuming, my bbc tv license has funded the square root of feck al… it looks exactly the same me…” – Steven H on X

“I honestly thought it was going to have a revamp and it was going to be totally different. What a bloody let down”-  Sam on X

Super-fast repairs: The Queen Vic reopened on May 8th with only minor changes / BBC