EastEnders' Danny Dyer: Why am I stereotyped and not Benedict Cumberbatch?

EastEnders star Danny Dyer has complained that he gets mocked for playing characters like himself, but the same doesn't happen to Benedict Cumberbatch.

Danny told Woman magazine that he was sick of comments about taking roles that were similar to him.

He said: "You've got actors like Benedict Cumberbatch - a great actor, but he's a posh boy playing posh boys. He does it well, and he doesn't get mocked for that.

"I play working class people, and I get mocked for it. I'm stereotyped, he's not. I've done plays at the National Theatre, come off stage and gone into the bar and I ain't got nothing in common with those people.

"When it comes to playing the game, I'm rubbish. The middle-class actors are better prepped at working the system, because they've got more in common with the decision makers."

Danny also said EastEnders' producers had talked to him about his use of Twitter.

He said: "I sat down with the producers of EastEnders and the Twitter thing was one of their main worries. But 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's going to make it exciting. It's tough landing as high profile [a job] as EastEnders because I have to be me but dumbed down, and I don't do that very well."

– Press Association

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