M ost people in Britain can spot a Danny Dyerism a mile off. The former EastEnders star and twinkly-eyed national treasure is famous for his playful, uniquely poetic turns of phrase on social media, whether it’s telling the proverbial “early bird” to “get back in ya nest, ya feathery little mug”, or saying Donald Trump seems like he’s “completely off his strange-looking nut”. So when writer and actor Ryan Sampson created his new Sky Max comedy Mr Bigstuff , with lines like “I’ve been on my trotters all day looking for a certain little twat with a nutty haircut”, there was truly only one man for the job.
But there was a problem: Dyer was nine years into his role as Mick Carter in Britain’s biggest soap, a schedule-swallowing commitment meaning he’d never be able to say yes if Sampson approached him. Then, a miracle happened. Just days after Sampson finished the script, he went out drinking with friends, drowning his sorrows about not being able to cast Dyer.
The next morning, still half-cut, he walked past a newsagent and saw a front page proclaiming: DYER QUITS ’ENDERS. “When I saw the paper, in my state, I was like, ‘God wants this to happen!” he tells me now. Sampson and Dyer are sat opposite me in a London hotel room, cradling a pair of preposterously small china espresso cups and saucers.
Dyer had worked with Sampson very briefly on the comedy Plebs in 2013, but had no idea about the script he’d been cooking up. Today, he has his arm ro.
