SUNDAY Brunch’s first hour was shrouded in mystery as EastEnders star Danny Dyer was nowhere to be seen.
The 47-year-old Marching Powder star was due to join hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer on the show, as well as their other guests, Christian Cooke Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Georgia Tennant, Alex Horne, and Patrick Grant.
But Danny was a no show as the programme got under way, leaving Tim and Simon to explain his whereabouts to fans.
Addressing the empty seat, Tim said the actor was busy filming the second series of hit show Rivals.
He said: “Now Danny Dyer is joining us today, but he’s busy right in the middle of filming Rivals.”;;
Tim then added to viewers: “He is on his way though and he’s offered to stop in at the services to get pick up some bits and bobs. Anyone want anything?”;;
This led comedian Alex Horne to joke that he’d quite like Danny to pick him up a sausage roll.
And Tim went on: “Sausage roll alright, we’ll text him later.
“He’s a very successful man at the moment. He did just get a BAFTA and he’ll be celebrating on the show. We’d like to make him feel special.”;;
The hosts then joked that they’d really pushed the boat out, as they whipped into the fridge and pulled out a tiny bottle of Champagne.
But Danny did end up showing up an hour into the programme, after filming ceased on the Disney favourite for the day.
Elsewhere, Danny recently opened up on was the catalyst for him to stay in rehab and kick drugs for good.
His touching comments come after after his “dark”;; stint.
The 47-year-old – who played Queen Vic landlord for nine years – said: “I was off my nut a lot of that job . . . a lot of Valium and diazepam.”;;
Now he has told how his alum daughter played a key role in ditching his demons after he admitted at the height of his addiction.
Now he has candidly opened up on his rehab stint in – and how the reality TV star’s words sobered him up.
Speaking to Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs he said he was ready to quit the facility around eight years ago.
He told the BBC Radio 4 show: “Then they read a letter out from home, from my daughter Dani, and it made me sit back down in that seat.”;;
Talking of the height of his drug battles he said: “I remember I had this moment where I was sitting in my ensuite trying to work out how to put a pair of jeans on – I was that off my head.
“I looked up, I looked at my wife and I could just see how tired she looked and I could hear kids running around downstairs, and I thought ‘I need to sort my life out’.”;;
