Danny Dyer said joining EastEnders was like going back to school and thinks the role of pub landlord Mick Carter will let him show off his 'feminine side'.
The hard man actor, who played a hooligan in Football Factory and presented documentary series Danny Dyer's Deadliest Men, was mentored on the set by the man he is replacing as landlord of the Queen Vic - Shane Richie.
He said: "He's lovely Shane, really lovely, it is more just to show you around really because when you first come here it's like a new school [but you're] pushing 40, do you know what I mean?
"It's that thing of being lost and it's a bit embarrassing. I queued up to get my lunch, I don't know anyone, I've got no mates, I come in on my own and had to sit on my own, but a couple of people came over to me in the end out of pity."
Danny said one of the reasons he liked his character was because he was so different to his usual hard man roles - at one point even wearing a pink dressing gown belonging to his on-screen wife Linda.
He said: "He's quite in touch with his feminine side. We have a big row when she wants it back, but it's showing a side to me no one has really seen before, that's why I was so interested in the role".
Danny, who turned down the chance to play the part of current EastEnders bad boy Carl, said his inspiration was Mike Reid who played Frank Butcher in the soap for many years.
He said: "I just loved everything about him, I loved the fact he was a real east Londoner and he was so funny, but yet he was a really good actor and had a real presence about him, when he was behind the bar you believed it you know and he had that warmth you know, so he was the one for me."
