The Queen Vic’s new landlord, Danny Dyer tells TV Times about playing a decent geezer for a change, taking EastEnders back to its Cockney roots, and his raucous home life...
What made you take the role?
"What excited me about this was that Mick is a family man; someone who loves his kids and his wife, a grafter. He’s an alpha male, but not in an obvious way; he’s not running around with a gun. I was offered a part before, but it was too obvious – it was Carl. I’m glad I turned it down, because I wouldn’t be working with Kellie [Bright, who plays Mick’s wife, Linda]."
Were you surprised at all?
"I’m a controversial character – it’s the baggage that comes with me as an actor – but I’m at an age now where I need to slow down and get back to acting. I need to show people I can be in their living rooms before the watershed and be a believable and hopefully loveable character. Perhaps other producers wouldn’t have touched me with a barge pole, but I love that Dominic Treadwill-Collins [EastEnders' executive producer] has...and I’m not going to let him down."
With ratings on the slide are you feeling the pressure?
"Slightly, but I like pressure; I thrive on it. I didn’t want to come in and have it easy."
What do you hope to bring back to the show?
"I felt it got a bit “Essexy” – like with The Only Way is Essex when they sound Cockney but they’re not. I’m trying to get as much Cockney-ness into as I can. So I’ll call a car a haddock - a haddock and bloater is a motor. Cockney slang is dying out and I think it is important we put it in the show. I want people to Google stuff and go 'What is that?'"
Is your home life (in October, his long-term partner, Joanne Mas, gave birth to their third child, Arty) any less chaotic than your character’s?
"No, I’m in a soap and I go home to a soap. It is tough. When you’re on set all day, you miss them. But you’ve got to get up and earn. Some people get up and they grab their Tupperware box and go off to a building site so I feel blessed to have the job I’ve got."
