Huge EastEnders star slams time on soap and claims bosses ‘made promises they never kept'
A FORMER EastEnders star has slammed his time on the show and claimed bosses 'made promises they didn't keep'.
Jamie Foreman starred as Derek Branning in EastEnders from November 2011 until December 2012.
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Jamie Foreman has spoken out about his time on EastEnders
Credit: TikTok
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He played Derek Branning in the BBC One soap
Credit: BBC
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One of bad boy Derek's storylines was an affair with married Kat Slater
Credit: BBC
Despite being part of one of Walford's most iconic families, Jamie, 67, has confessed his time as Derek is not 'a career highlight'.
Speaking on the Lewis Nicholls Show, he said: 'I'm going to be a little bit controversial here.
'I don't see EastEnders as anywhere near the highlight of my career.
'It was a lovely job and I respect it. But for me… they'd asked me so many times before.'
Recalling the offer from EastEnders, Jamie continued: 'They said, 'it's with the best family, it's full on, you can do as long as you want'. I said, 'I only want to do it for a year'.
'I went and met with them and they made me all manner of promises that they never kept, like 'you'll never work a Saturday'. I did every Saturday. I was the first in, last out every day.'
Jamie's character Derek was killed off during the Christmas Day 2012 episode when he suffered a heart attack.
In his short time as a resident of Albert Square Derek cemented himself as one of the soap's most notorious bad boys.
He had an affair with Alfie Moon's wife Kat Slater, tormented Pat Butcher on her death bed and told Sharon Watts' son Denny the truth about his dad Dennis Rickman.
It's not the first time Jamie has spoken negatively about his time on the show.
Penny Branning calls her dad 'big man Jack' in EastEnders
In 2013 he appeared on Daybreak and said: 'I hated the scenes in the Queen Vic, I'm terribly sorry to everybody!
'I'm sure a lot of the cast will say the same thing - they're so long and laborious.
'You've got to stand there and wait for somebody over there to stop talking, so you're listening to that conversation, then it cuts to somebody else. You never shoot a scene quickly in there.'
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Viewer Voted Categories: Best British Soap: Coronation Street EastEnders - WINNER Emmerdale Hollyoaks Best Leading Performer: Kellie Bright (Linda Carter, EastEnders) Eden Taylor-Draper (Belle Dingle, Emmerdale) Beth Cordingly (Ruby Miligan, Emmerdale) Villain of the Year: Calum Lill (Joel Deering, Coronation Street) Navin Chowdhry (Nish Panesar, EastEnders) - WINNER Ned Porteous (Joe Tate, Emmerdale) Tyler Conti (Abe Fielding, Hollyoaks) Best Comedy Performance: Jack P Shepherd (David Platt, Coronation Street) Patsy Palmer (Bianca Jackson, EastEnders) - WINNER Nicola Wheeler (Nicola King, Emmerdale) Nicole Barber-Lane (Myra McQueen, Hollyoaks) Panel Voted Categories: Best Family: The Platts (Coronation Street) The Slaters (EastEnders) The Dingles (Emmerdale) The Osbornes (Hollyoaks) - WINNER Best Dramatic Performance: Peter Ash (Paul Foreman, Coronation Street) Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell, EastEnders) - WINNER Eden Taylor-Draper (Belle Dingle, Emmerdale) Isabelle Smith (Frankie Osborne, Hollyoaks) Best Single Episode: Mason's death (Coronation Street) Phil's psychosis: the Mitchells in 1985 (EastEnders) - WINNER April's life on the streets (Emmerdale) Hollyoaks time jump (Hollyoaks) Best On-Screen Partnership: Alison King and Vicky Myers (Carla Connor and Lisa Swain, Coronation Street) Rudolph Walker and Angela Wynter (Patrick and Yolande Trueman, EastEnders) - WINNER William Ash and Beth Cordingly (Caleb and Ruby Miligan, Emmerdale) Nathaniel Dass and Oscar Curtis (Dillon Ray and Lucas Hay, Hollyoaks) Best Newcomer: Jacob Roberts (Kit Green, Coronation Street) Laura Doddington (Nicola Mitchell, EastEnders) Shebz Miah (Kammy Hadiq, Emmerdale) Isabelle Smith (Frankie Osborne, Hollyoaks) - WINNER Best Storyline: Paul's battle with MND (Coronation Street) Phil Mitchell: Hypermasculinity in crisis (EastEnders) Belle and Tom - Domestic Abuse (Emmerdale) Sibling sexual abuse (Hollyoaks) - WINNER Best Young Performer: Will Flanagan (Joseph Winter-Brown, Coronation Street) Sonny Kendall (Tommy Moon, EastEnders) Amelia Flanagan (April Windsor, Emmerdale) - WINNER Noah Holdsworth (Oscar Osborne, Hollyoaks) Scene of the Year: Amy's deathly plunge reveals a grisly secret (Emmerdale)
