EastEnders’ bad boy Danny Dyer on the brink as pals fear booze and drugs are taking their toll
Party animal is taking an indefinite break from his £400k-a-year role to get over 'exhaustion' but sources close to self-proclaimed caner admit he may have left BBC soap for good
JUST last Sunday Danny Dyer’s name got laughs from Prince William and Kate Middleton as Baftas host Stephen Fry joked about the actor’s royal ancestry.
It was a sign of how far he had come — that he was entertaining the royals and Hollywood stars even in his absence.
But behind the scenes, he was in a private hell with his role in EastEnders hanging in the balance.
The party animal is taking an indefinite break from his £400,000-a-year role to get over “exhaustion”.
It comes after a string of benders and increasingly worrying behaviour.
But for once it is not another hilarious moment in the wild life of our most unlikely national treasure.
This time things really are Dyer for Danny.
Pals now fear the actor’s demons, particularly booze and drugs, could finally get the better of him.
One said: “This is a very worrying period for Danny.
“He has never had it better career-wise, but the troubles in his personal life could drag him down.
“Everyone hopes he can sort things out for good this time. No one wants him to leave the show.”
Before joining EastEnders in 2013, Danny was best known for his foul-mouthed, low-budget Brit flicks.
He also presented documentaries about aliens and football hooligans.
Do you want Danny back in Albert Square? #SAVEDANNY
Danny had turned down a role on the soap in 2009, saying he would not do it until he was “50 and fat”.
But his arrival in Walford revitalised his career and his profile.
Who would have thought five years ago that an edition of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? where Danny discovered he is a descendent of King Edward III would become one of the TV highlights of 2016?
Yet while he is thriving on screen, his behaviour away from the cameras has become increasingly troubling.
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At January’s National Television Awards he hit the drink hard in front of colleagues despite vowing to go teetotal at the start of the year.
And last summer he was involved in a fight at V Festival with pals of reality star Mark Wright, 30, in front of his daughter Dani, 20,
Danny ended up being kicked in the head and left with a black eye.
He also had to apologise to former Bake Off judge Mary Berry, 81, after drunkenly manhandling her on stage at the 2014 TV Choice awards.
But despite the warning signs, Danny has made no secret of his fondness for booze and drugs.
In his 2010 autobiography, he said: “I’ve always taken drugs and I probably always will.
“But there’s a difference between having the odd crafty bump up the snout as a reward for a job well done and letting it rule your life.”
Two years ago he called for Class A drug cocaine to be made legal.
He said: “Compared to booze and fags it hasn’t killed as many people.
“Banning drugs hasn’t worked. Ain’t it time to try something different?”
Danny lives in a £1.5million five-bedroom house in Essex but was brought up in the tough streets of Canning Town, East London.
As a teen, he would steal mountain bikes from the back of delivery vans to feed his cannabis urges.
And in 2013, just before he joined EastEnders, he made the shocking admission that he had smoked crack.
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He binged on the Class A drug before a 2000 Broadway performance.
He said: “Crack is like coke times 20. You get a massive rush and you feel like you could take on the world.
“It’s like your blood has been removed and replaced with electricity. I took to it like a duck to water, which should have been the warning I needed to leave it alone.
“I was sucking on a crack pipe and I sat back in the chair, looked at the clock and it was 11 in the morning.
“I thought, ‘F***, I’ve got to be at the theatre at six. I’ve got to go home and sleep’.”
In the end, money was the main reason Danny joined EastEnders.
He said he was so broke he feared he would not have enough money for petrol to get to the audition.
But Danny is now paid £400,000 a year and is the third highest-paid cast member. Only Adam Woodyatt, who plays Ian Beale, and Dot Cotton actress June Brown are paid more.
His arrival on Albert Square was the brainchild of former executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins.
But he left last year and Danny’s future on the show has never looked more uncertain.
A pal said: “Dom was the boss who brought Danny in, looked after him, nurtured him and tried to babysit him as much as possible.
“He knew Danny was never going to be perfect and would inevitably cause some issues along the way.
“But he also knew how vital he was to the show and how much the viewers love him. Now Dom’s gone, Danny no longer has that protection and his behaviour has come under greater scrutiny.”
Danny had been given a dressing down by show bosses before.
In 2014 the BBC soap’s producers warned him about his repeated use of foul language in public and numerous Twitter spats.
He said at the time: “They have to understand that they’ve brought me into the show for my brand and there’s a side effect of that.
“They’re taking a risk with me and that’s what will make it exciting.”
They should have known what a risk they were taking.
In 2010 his agony aunt column in Zoo magazine was axed after he advised a jilted boyfriend to “cut” his ex’s face “so no one will want her”.
Danny has three kids — Dani, 20, Sunnie, nine and Arty, three — with wife Joanne Mas, 40.
They have been together more than 20 years but he has been accused of cheating on her several times.
The accusations include The Sun on Sunday’s revelation that he had sex with 20-year-old Laura Boyd four times in one night in 2013.
Now the man who once confessed he had “royally f***** up” his love life is at risk of doing exactly the same thing to his career.
Soul of the Square
By DAN WOOTTON, Associate Editor
IF hapless EastEnders bosses lose Danny Dyer they might as well close the Queen Vic for good.
Finally, they have found an actor to fill the void left by the show’s biggest superstar, Babs Windsor.
In less than four years he has become the heart and soul of Albert Square – and viewers overwhelmingly adore him.
But it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out the chain- smoking, hard-boozing love rat, who once boasted he would always take drugs, was going to cause some serious trouble along the way.
If they didn’t want to deal with that trouble, then why on earth did they hire him?
Danny’s been the best thing to happen to the struggling soap in years. It’s losing the ratings and creative battle to Corrie and Emmerdale.
They should butt out of his private life and let him come back as soon as possible.
If you agree, join our campaign and tweet #SaveDanny to