EX-EASTENDER Danny Dyer has admitted he was “off his nut” on prescription drugs during his time on the soap.

The 47-year-old — Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter for nine years — said: “I was off my nut a lot of that job . . . a lot of Valium and diazepam.”

The actor, one of Albert Square’s biggest names over the past decade, also laid into his BBC bosses.

He also accused show chiefs of a lack of duty of care for the cast.

And he claimed he was blocked from going to a family member’s funeral due to long hours on set, ended up in rehab, and slammed the scripts.

Danny, who played pub landlord Mick Carter for nine years, also said show bosses tried to stop him drinking real beer while filming in the Queen Vic pub.

His explosive comments came ahead tonight’s Bafta Television Awards — where he is set to rub shoulders with EastEnders producers and stars.

Fans and celebs including Patsy Kensit, 57, were at Wimbledon Football Club in South West London on Friday for the charity night with Danny.

Speaking of EastEnders, he told the audience: “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.”

In an apparent reference to the show’s storylines, he added: “Not so much in Corrie, but in EastEnders it’s so dark.”

Danny joined the soap as Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in 2013 but quit in 2022, with his character seemingly drowning at sea.

At the charity night he laid into the workload on the soap, claiming bosses stopped him from attending a family funeral.

Danny said: “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.

“There’s not much duty of care. That’s the truth.

My fanbase at the time was a guy in a Burberry cap with a scar on his face and all of a sudden you become really famous.

Danny Dyer

“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.

“In films you make yourself properly cry, you go to a dark place and you have time to recover. It messes a lot of people’s heads up. Most people are off their nut.

“You meet them on the street, they’re lunatics I’m telling you. Institutionalised.”

Danny also had a dig at the soap’s scripts and Mick’s romance with megabitch Janine Butcher, played by Charlie Brooks, 44.

He said: “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.”

Danny also blasted the show’s decision to kill off Lola Pearce, played by Danielle Harold, 32, with a brain tumour last year.

He said: “I felt for her. They came up with a storyline saying you’re going to die of brain cancer. She’s so incredible as an actress. She was wasted.

“OK, it’s a brilliant story and you leave, but it’s EastEnders — anyone can come back.”

Danny has repeatedly said he’d love to go back to the show, so it’s an odd move.

TV source

During the boozy bash Danny also confessed bosses banned him from drinking alcohol in the Queen Vic and even put antiseptic in the beer barrels.

He said: “When I first arrived on set I was slipping around the side and having a few lagers and they found out so they started to put TCP into the beer.

“I wasn’t off my nut. I had a drink every now and again.”

Danny, paid around £250,000 a year on EastEnders, claimed bosses axed the Sunday omnibus in 2017 because it cost too much money.

He said: “When I first went into EastEnders you got paid by the episode and you got the same readies on a Sunday for the omnibus. That’s why they got rid of it.”

Danny, who was a football hooligan in 2004 film The Football Factory, said: “EastEnders saved me.

“I was doing PAs. I was a lunatic. It gives you a platform.

“My fanbase at the time was a guy in a Burberry cap with a scar on his face and all of a sudden you become really famous.”

Danny is nominated at tonight’s Baftas for Best Male Comedy performance in Sky’s Mr Bigstuff.

He also revealed that filming has started on the second series of hit Disney+ show Rivals.

An EastEnders spokeswoman said yesterday: “We would never discuss an individual’s private matters, however, we do not recognise these claims.

“EastEnders has extremely robust and well-established procedures in place to safeguard the welfare of everyone who works on the show.”

A telly source added: “People who work on the show will be baffled by these claims. They would always allow, and encourage, anyone working on EastEnders, to take immediate compassionate leave following a family bereavement.

“Danny has repeatedly said he’d love to go back to the show, so it’s an odd move.”

Meanwhile Danny has been forced to pause his podcast — Live and Let Dyers with daughter Dani — after he revealed he had an illegal metal cosh in his house to protect against intruders.

The Sun on Sunday exclusively revealed the story last month.

Danny said: “We now live in a time where you’ve got to be careful about what you say.

“I had a nightmare the other day I said I had a spring cosh in my house. I meant that I was going on holiday and if any burglars were listening I’d be back home. I didn’t know it was illegal.

“We’re resting the podcast for a while. We’re letting it breathe. You’ve got to be so careful.”

And Danny admits that his wife Joanne Mas, 48, is still working on trusting him after he cheated.

On tomorrow’s BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs., he says he is grateful she gave him a chance after he “embarrassed her on a national level”.

Asked how long it took before Joanne, mum to their three kids trusted him again, Danny admits: “It’s still a process — some of the stuff that I’ve put her through, you know, she’s somebody that really has kept me grounded.”