The BBC has revealed its top talent pay and EastEnders fans are furious because two of the soap’s most well-loved actors are missing from the list.
Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell) and June Brown (Dot Branning) are two of the show’s biggest legends, yet they fail to make the list of talent earning over £150,000.
The biggest EastEnders earners are Danny Dyer (Mick Carter) and Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale) who are both in the £200,000-£249,999 bracket.
But beating both of them is Casualty star Derek Thompson (Charlie Fairhead) who earns between £350,000 and £399,999.
The top earning woman in the drama and comedy section is Amanda Mealing, who plays Connie Beauchamp in Casualty.
EastEnders stars do feature elsewhere with Laurie Brett (Jane Beale ), Letitia Dean (Sharon Mitchell), Tameka Empson (Kim Fox-Hubbard), Linda Henry (Shirley Carter), Scott Maslen (Jack Branning), Diane Parish (Denise Fox), Gillian Taylforth (Kathy Beale), and Lacey Turner (Stacey Fowler) all in the £150,000-£199,000 bracket.
Fans are very unhappy that neither Steve nor June are on the list and have taken to Twitter to express their feelings.
One theory about the omission is that both actors have a considerable amount of time off and have both been on extended breaks from the soap over the last year.
Another notable absence is EastEnders actor and former Strictly Come Dancing star Jake Wood.
Outside of the soap world DJ Chris Evans topped the list pocketing over £2 million.
Only one third of the list of talent earning over £150,000 are women, with the top names being men. Details of stars’ pay was revealed in £50,000 bands.
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The list reveals that newsreader and Antiques Roadshow presenter Fiona Bruce earns between £350,000 and £399,000 but fellow news host Huw Edwards is on £550,000 to £599,999.
The BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg is on £200,000 to £249,000, below news presenter George Alagiah (£250,000-£299,000) and Radio 4’s PM host Eddie Mair (£300,000 – £349,000).
News host Sophie Raworth is on £150,000 to £199,000.
BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty is in the £150,000 to £199,999 bracket, and her colleague on the show Dan Walker, who also works on Football Focus and fronted slots from the Rio Olympics, took home between £200,000 and £249,000.
Their fellow BBC Breakfast presenters Louise Minchin and Charlie Stayt do not make the £150,000 bracket.
In sport, Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker is paid in the £1,750,000 to £1,799,999 bracket. He had earlier revealed that he had turned down higher pay offers from commercial broadcasters.
Writing on Twitter, the former England striker said he had stuck with the Beeb “Because I love and value my job and BBC sport.”
Happy BBC salary day. I blame my agent and the other TV channels that pay more. Now where did I put my tin helmet?
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 19, 2017
But Wimbledon’s Sue Barker earns between £300,000 and £349,999, behind Alan Shearer (£400,000 and £449,999).
Clare Balding is paid between £150,000 to £199,999, putting her in the same list as Jonathan Agnew, Jonathan Davies and John McEnroe.
Presenters John Inverdale and Gabby Logan are on between £200,000 and £249,000.
Radio 2 Breakfast DJ and former Top Gear host Evans earns between £2.2 million and £2,249,999.
Graham Norton is listed as between £850,000 and £899,999 – but as the list only includes cash from licence fee payers, that does not include his chat show, for which the BBC pays an independent production company, which in turn pays his salary.
Strictly Come Dancing host and Radio 2 DJ Claudia Winkleman earns between £450,000 and £499,000, whereas her Strictly counterpart, Tess Daly falls into the £350,000 and £399,000 bracket.
This is due to Claudia being classed as ‘multi-genre’ meaning she’s drawn her salary from work across a variety of BBC programmes.
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Strictly judge Darcey Bussell earns between £150,000 and £199,999, putting her in the same band as Craig Revel Horwood.
But Bruno Toniolo, who also worked on Eurovision: You Decide, and former head judge Len Goodman earn more at £200,000 to £249,999.
Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi was paid between £200,000 to £249,0000.
Top Gear’s Matt LeBlanc is not on the list but it has not been disclosed whether he is paid £150,000 or more but from BBC Worldwide.
Names like Mary Berry are not on the list because she would have been paid by an independent production company, which the BBC paid.
The figures are for the money stars received from the licence fee from the financial year April 2016 to April 2017.