I was about to train as a cabbie before bagging the role of Billy Mitchell on EastEnders – all my acting work dried up

EASTENDERS fans will be surprised to hear that before Perry Fenwick bagged the role of Billy Mitchell on the famous soap he was out of work - and considering becoming a cabbie.

The actor, 61, revealed in an interview today that he nearly had to take to the streets in a black cab ahead of getting called up to join the cast in Albert Square.

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He'd already appeared in Casualty and The Bill by that time, but he told comedian and podcaster Kathy Burke that he had been ready to give up on acting.

Perry said: "It’s funny…I think Kath, at that point I was at the point of knocking the acting on the head because as you said I did a hell of a lot of work and then it just dried up.

"I was about to start ‘the knowledge’ (driving black cabs).

"But then they rung up the agent and said about EastEnders and I thought ‘oh, I could do with that now’."

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Kathy added: "I’m very proud of you Pel. I’m very proud of you mate because it is tough doing stuff like this.

"I’ll never forget when your character first turned up because I’d seen the majority of your work up until Eastenders, and you were always a bit of the wide boy and the sort of good looking sexy one that all the girls were after, and then in you come as Billy Mitchell.

"God love him, he’s a right old dopey draws isn’t he, and he doesn’t have any luck.

"I just thought this is so nice because it’s such a shift for Pel to play this sort of character, and now you’ve been doing him for 25 years!"

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Perry has played Billy on EastEnders since 1998, and unlike many other soap stars, no other performer has portrayed his character.

He recently revealed that the death of his on-screen grandaughter Lola Pearce-Brown has been the saddest storyline in his 25 years on the programme.

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