EastEnders' Matt feels under pressure to stay buff

EastEnders' Matt feels under pressure to stay buff
EastEnders' Matt feels under pressure to stay buff (Image credit: BBC)

EastEnders star Matt Lapinskas has revealed that he feels under pressure to keep fit. The actor, who plays Anthony Moon in the BBC soap, often has scenes where he has to strip off to his boxers alongside his screen brother Tyler (Tony Discipline). "When you're in the public eye, you feel like you have to keep in shape. You're always under pressure," he told Heat. Matt admitted that he couldn't believe it when he first saw his 'wardrobe'. "We walked into our dressing rooms and there were just some boxers hanging up. We rang down saying, 'Our costumes aren't here', and they said, 'Yeah, they are'. I was like, 'Are you serious?'" he recalled. The actor - who is dating co-star Shona McGarty - tries to keep his work and love life separate. "We don't take our relationships on set," he said. And he confessed to getting star-struck when he first met Steve McFadden, who plays hardman Phil Mitchell. "I was most excited to meet Steve. Every new cast member is given a mentor who shows you the ropes, and mine was Steve," he admitted. "It was pretty weird sitting down talking about scripts with Phil Mitchell."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.