'EastEnders' bosses insist Danny Dyer is a "consummate professional".

Danny Dyer

Danny Dyer

The 39-year-old actor is currently taking a break from playing loveable landlord Mick Carter on the long-running soap and show bosses have rushed to quash recent claims he was difficult on set.

A spokesperson told the Sunday Mirror: "Danny is always a consummate professional.

"Danny has never walked off set, nor has he ever lost his temper or been rude to anyone at work.

"Danny is an extremely popular member of cast and respected by everyone on the show."

Danny has jetted off to South Africa for a holiday and friends believe he is exhausted after working non-stop since joining the show in 2013.

An insider explained: "Danny knows he has to rest-up and recuperate. He has been ground down by the workload on 'EastEnders' and then partying on top of it.

"This trip is going to do him the world of good. He can remain anonymous there and he can properly rest. He's hoping to come back refreshed and back into work."

His decision to have a temporary rest from filming comes five months after he tied the knot with his childhood sweetheart Joanne Mas in a romantic ceremony in Hampshire.

The smitten couple may have only just got hitched officially but they have been together since 1992 and have children Danni, 19, Sunnie, nine and Arty, two, together.

And Danny's break from the show will unlikely cause any issues for writers as his on-screen wife Kellie Bright - who plays pub landlady Linda Carter in the soap - is also enjoying some time off following the birth of her second child Gene in November.

Kellie - who also has five-year-old son Freddy with her husband Paul Stocker - said at the time: "It's such a cliché but it really is a love like nothing else. In that moment you feel like everything you need is right there in that room ... I couldn't believe in only seven hours he'd arrived and my whole world and changed again."

It's not known when Danny's alter ego - who has become one of the soap's biggest characters - will leave screens.


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