John reveals EastEnders' fight scene slap ban

John reveals EastEnders' fight scene slap ban
John reveals EastEnders' fight scene slap ban (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

EastEnders star John Partridge has revealed that he wanted his co-star to slap him for real in a scene, but was prevented by health and safety laws. John's character Christian Clarke was seen getting slapped round the face by Zainab Masood (Nina Wadia) during a heated row at New Year. Asked if they wanted to do a real slap, John told This Morning: "Yeah we did at first, but they were like 'absolutely not'. But when it came to it it looked brilliant. "I think she might've knocked my teeth out if it was real!" Responding to his remarks, a BBC spokesman told the Daily Mail: "As with most action scenes, we always have a stunt director present to make sure that our scenes look realistic but to ensure that no one is injured. "If a scene permits and the actor chooses to do the stunt themselves, it would be carefully choreographed to make sure that no-one is injured during filming." Get EastEnders storylines first! Sign up to receive our EastEnders Extra newsletter Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk’s weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

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.