Former EastEnders star Ben Hardy has hit out at the soap for the “contrived” way they made him strip off.
The actor played Peter Beale until 2013 when he quit to pursue a career in Hollywood.
Speaking about his new role in BBC period drama The Woman in White, Ben revealed how he was asked to take his clothes off for the show but he refused.
“They asked me to take my clothes off, but I said no,” he told The Sun.
He added that he “didn’t want to do it for no reason”.
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Hitting out at EastEnders, he said: “It was crazy how often I had to take my top off in EastEnders.
“One scene was so contrived – I had to take my hoodie off, to take my T-shirt off, to put my hoodie back on.
“I want to do a role where I have to be fat next, just so I can tuck into a pizza.”
After quitting the soap, the actor went on to land a starring role in X-Men: Apocalypse as Archangel.
He will soon be seen in the big screen re-telling of author Mary Shelley’s life.
But he didn’t rule out returning to television and insists he just wants to do his best work.
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He recently told the Belfast Telegraph: “It’s tricky, really. Some of the best work is TV, but I think it’s so hard to know if you’re onto something special.”
Ben added: “But I can’t be that picky. I think every actor, or most actors, wants to have a pretty diverse portfolio and that’s definitely true for me as well.”
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