Danny Dyer thinks Benedict Cumberbatch would be "useless" in 'EastEnders'.

Danny Dyer

Danny Dyer

The long-running soap's former executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins was desperate to get the 'Sherlock' star drinking in the fictional Queen Victoria pub for a few episodes before he left his position earlier this year, but the 39-year-old actor - who plays the boozer's landlord Mick Carter in the show - thinks casting Benedict would have been a recipe for disaster because it would have exposed his lack of talent.

Speaking to the Radio Times magazine, he said: "Doing soap is the hardest discipline there is. I'd love to see a snotty-nosed actor who says, 'I'm too good for this,' come in and be exposed. He would be useless. Could he do a cockney accent? Of course he couldn't. But then I can't do what Benedict Cumberbatch does.

"We all do what we can do, whether you're Idris Elba, whether you're me. No one else can do what Damian Lewis does, which is why he's got a career. And no one can do Danny Dyer like I can do Danny Dyer."

However, this isn't the first time the handsome soap star has taken aim at the 40-year-old actor - who also has a budding film career - as he previously said he'd get "bullied" by the rest of the cast if he started throwing his weight about in the Queen Victoria.

He said: "If he walked into a pub he'd get annihilated by geezers. He'd be bullied."

Although he doesn't think Benedict could join 'EastEnders', Danny is convinced he would have no trouble taking his lead position in the detective drama 'Sherlock'.

He said at the time: "I think that I could play Sherlock, though, if I did it my way. Benedict's brilliant and the lines roll off his tongue, but that role is about being highly intelligent rather than posh. I think I could do Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) as well."