Is Hardman Ray Winstone on his way to Albert Square? The Hollywood star is set to ‘replace’ Danny Dyer at EastEnders and could even become the manager of the Queen Vic pub
He’s the East End actor who took Hollywood by storm with his tough guy image.
Now Ray Winstone could be returning to his roots with a role on the TV show Albert Square.
The Mail on Sunday has been told he is being hired to replace Danny Dyer as Hardman in EastEnders, and some people close to the BBC soap opera have even speculated he could become the pub keeper Queen Vic.
The character he would possibly play would be the patriarch of a family that also includes new characters.
Sources at the BBC yesterday insisted there were no plans for Winstone, 66, to appear. However, they previously dampened such rumors of other big name signings, only to officially announce them shortly thereafter.
Ray Winstone could return to his roots – with a role in Albert Square on EastEnders television
Winstone, who starred in gangster film Sexy Beast, almost joined EastEnders in 2008 as the brother of longtime character Billy Mitchell but turned it down after accepting a role in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. At the time, the soap bosses said they were dying to get him on the show.
The actor later said: “The five-week-a-week thing, these guys work really hard, it’s just not for me. I was wondering if I would probably be the only one from the East End on the show.’
The London borough of Bromley-by-Bow, where the fictional Albert Square is said to be located, is just two miles from Hackney Hospital, where Winstone was born. He lived in Plaistow in the East End until he was seven when the family moved to north London.
Winstone, who starred in gangster film Sexy Beast (pictured), almost joined EastEnders in 2008 as the brother of longtime character Billy Mitchell but turned it down after accepting a role in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull
Last September, Winstone’s daughter Jaime, 37, won critical acclaim for portraying a young Peggy Mitchell in a flashback episode struggling to make ends meet in the 1970s.
Today, Winstone and his wife Elaine divide their time between their five-bedroom home in Essex and a converted farmhouse near the Sicilian town of Cianciana.
In December, Dyer left EastEnders after nine years as Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter.
In the Christmas Day episode, he appeared to die after jumping into the English Channel to rescue his wife, Linda, played by Kellie Bright.
After making an instant impact on the big screen with his breakthrough role in 1979’s Scum, Winstone has worked with Hollywood’s finest directors, including Martin Scorsese on The Departed.
A BBC spokeswoman said there were no plans for Winstone to join the EastEnders at this time.