The Last Word: Danny Dyer

Taken from the last page of our latest issue, this is The Last Word. It’s our final section of the magazine where we take a bonafide entertainment legend and ask them about life, navigating the tricky waters of the biz and how far they’d go to prove their legendary credentials. Up next, it’s Danny Dyer.

First up, what keeps you excited to be an actor after all these years? 

Other than EastEnders, no two jobs are the same. You’re always striving, looking to better yourself and learn and absorb.  

I suppose you just want to work with amazing people and try different things. And as I’m getting older, I’m learning to say no to stuff, too. My alarm goes off and I jump out of bed and I’m excited to go to work — and that’s the key. That’s what everybody deserves. Get a job you fucking love. 

You’re starring in Disney+’s adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals. How’s it been working with the House of Mouse? 

Disney are the elite, aren’t they? They’ve been around a long time and there’s no cutting corners. And I got to work with people like David Tennant and Aidan Turner — really, really clever actors.  

I might play a working-class character and I do have a Cockney accent, but there’s a completely different look in this. It’s just really clever, character-driven, and it’s set in the 80s, which I loved as a child of that decade. 

What was your favourite thing about growing up in the 80s?   

It’s the nostalgia of it. The fact that there wasn’t as much technology either; I do think that’s an issue now because it’s changing society. A lot of hatred and division comes from social media and the idea that anyone can say whatever they want to anybody else. It would be interesting to see if we could revert back to [life] without it.  

I’ve got an amazing scene where I pull out a karaoke machine for the first time and no one’s seen it and I do ‘Bat Out of Hell’. I like the idea of being around that again.  

As a young actor, what was it like to know you had a fan in the late, great Harold Pinter?

I never knew who he was before I auditioned for him, but I got the script for Celebration and I just loved his writing and the way he wrote conversations. He really rooted for me and became a bit  of a father figure, so I learned a lot from him, and his death really affected me.  

He always told me to just be me. And the reason he said that is because he was from Hackney, not far from where I grew up in Canning Town. When he was a young actor in the 50s, they didn’t encourage working-class accents, so you had to change it, and that was something he regretted later in life.  

Looking back at early coverage of your career, it feels like you experienced classism, too? 

I’ve come across classism a lot in my life and I’m proud of where I come from. There’s a lot of isms in this world and a lot of people go through it, whether you’re Black, whether you’re a woman, and ageism is a thing, too, you know. But I sort of learned early doors that you should stand up with your chest out and know who the fuck you are. Just because I swear a lot and might sound a bit uncouth, that doesn’t mean I’m not articulate or intelligent. 

Is EastEnders’ Mick Carter really dead?  

It’s interesting, mate. I’m very touched that people still give a fuck. I did nine years, and I left the show, but everyone asks every time I leave the house. People tell me he can’t be dead. But where the fuck is he? I just don’t know, man! Interestingly, I’m on my way back to Elstree right now for the first time since then, so I might go and put me head behind the bar in the Queen Vic. That would freak a few fuckers out!  

What advice would you give to young actors?  

As I’ve said, “Be yourself because everyone else is taken.” Don’t put on a television version of yourself ’cos I think we can get a bit lost with being a television personality. I sometimes go on rants and maybe I probably shouldn’t, but I’m just being me — so, yeah, believe in yourself! Be quietly arrogant, but back yourself. 

And finally, the toughest question of all: would you rather win an Oscar or for your beloved West Ham to win the Premier League? 

Oh, you bastard! You bastard! Oh God, I think I’d get the same enjoyment from both. My daughter Sunnie is 17 and she’s an up-and-coming actress, and we have this thing where I say, ‘Look, I don’t think I’m gonna win that Oscar, Sunnie, but can you please do it for me?’ Because she’s so talented and she’s got great potential. Watching her lift one with me in the audience would be amazing. So, I’ll go with West Ham winning the Premier League!