Former EastEnders star Derek Martin has slammed the “sensationalist” events portrayed in soaps now, after he accused them of being "too miserable" nowadays.
In an appearance on Good Morning Britain, the 88-year-old who played cabbie Charlie Slater in EastEnders from 2000 to 2016, said soaps back in the day “caused a lot of laughs and a lot of humour”.
From his kitchen in Hertfordshire, he told presenters Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway: “With all these problems we’ve got now with Covid, people need a bit of humour to break it up. To take the edge off it.
“When Den handed Angie the divorce papers, that was a natural thing - that's what happens in life."
Apparently referring to Coronation Street ’s iconic tram crash, he added: “You don't have a train derailing or a plane crashing on a village or a bus tipping over.
“But it’s done because they want the viewers and the must-watch factor.”
The Charlie Slater actor said these complaints are often what soap fans say to him when they approach him in public.
However, fellow Good Morning Britain guest Nicola Thorp, who played Nicola Rubinstein on Coronation Street, defended the soaps and said they balance the “light and shade” perfectly.
Speaking remotely from London, Nicola, 33, said: “I think that soaps manage that balance so, so well.
“I remember when I was in Coronation Street, we had the death of a serial killer and a rapist, and the next scene was Gail Platt taking chicken nuggets out of the oven that had been burnt.
“It was brilliant, the script writers know how to balance that light and shade.”
Nicola, who appeared in Corrie from 2017 to 2018, added that it is not always the comedic plotlines that cheer her up, saying she instead finds comfort in the schadenfreude of knowing soap characters are having a worse day than her.
This comes after veteran actor Derek hit out at his former soap for its focus on dark plot lines in the hopes of bringing in younger viewers.
He instead urged EastEnders to cater to its audience at hand and refocus on key families such as the Slaters, Fowlers and Mitchells.
Speaking to The Sun, he said: “You've got to have humour, especially in the depths of Covid, because there's always something to laugh about in life.
“You used to have Charlie, Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) and Jim Branning (John Bardon) sitting at the allotments with a few beers, just talking about silly things. That's what happens in real life. You need that on EastEnders.
“EastEnders has been losing viewers for years and it's sad.”
