John Altman shocked by old EastEnders language
Former 'EastEnders' star John Altman has admitted he was "shocked" by language he heard when rewatching an old episode of the BBC soap - calling the dialogue "unbelievable".
John Altman was "shocked" by the language when rewatching an old episode of 'EastEnders'.
The 73-year-old actor - who played 'Nasty' Nick Cotton in the BBC soap on and off between 1985 and 2015 - has admitted the dialogue used by his villainous character was "unbelievable" and would not be allowed to be screened today.
He said: "I watched an old episode of 'EastEnders' recently and I couldn’t believe the content of the dialogue. It was unbelievable, really.
"You’d never allow people to use it these days, even though it was real what Nick Cotton was saying - he’s a racist, drug dealing, murderer."
Altman went on to confess he doesn't agree with trigger warnings which are often placed on content which might feature upsetting scenes or language.
John - who stars in new horror film 'The Last Grail Hunter' - added: "All that stuff: ‘The content of this programme might upset some people’, I doubt it upsets anyone to be quite honest.
"Let alone the people they might think they’re upsetting.
"You see some old 'Only Fools and Horses' [episodes] and Del Boy saying certain phrases that you wouldn’t use now, but that’s what they were using and people still do."
It comes after the actor previously admitted he's not kept in touch with his former co-stars and only catches up with them at funerals.
Speaking to TV presenter Hayley Palmer at her audience with Saturday night show at The Hippodrome Casino in London, John admitted: "I don't really keep in contact with any of the cast members.
"I just tend to see them at funerals or at charity nights - there's been too many funerals.
"When you are at 'EastEnders', you have to sort of cut yourself off from the world as you are at it every single day of the week.
"Even on the weekend, you are always learning lines - it's not glamorous!
"So when you're not in it, they are all still in 'that world' and I'm in the normal world."
