He was one of the most ubiquitous faces of British film and television during the mid-noughties, but Danny Dyer has revealed the “desperate” financial situation he was in before the BBC offered him a part on ‘Eastenders’ in 2013.

The 38 year old actor, who plays the pub landlord Mick Carter on the long-running soap, appeared on ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’ this week and revealed that he was on the verge of financial meltdown when he was offered the part.

Danny DyerDanny Dyer with fellow 'EastEnders' stars Maddy Hill (l) and Kellie Bright (r)

“I didn't have an audition, they rung me up, I had a touch,” he admitted. “They rung me up and said 'Listen, we want you to come in the show, take over the Queen Vic'. At the time I was skint and I just had about enough petrol money to get there, that's the truth.”

A decade ago, Dyer was a rising star, featuring in The Football Factory, The Business and a clutch of other Nick Love-directed films, where he essentially reprised his own public image – a happy-go-lucky Cockney rogue. He also presented ‘The Real Football Factories’ and ‘Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men’ on television screens.

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But his career began to dry up at the turn of the decade, and then his public profile took a serious hit in 2010 when he wrote in Zoo magazine that a male reader should get over a relationship break-up by “going on a rampage with the boys” or to “cut your ex's face, and then no one will want her…”. Though he has maintained that he was misquoted, his career had flagged from that point.

“They thought I was a multimillionaire and I met them in the hotel and I walked in absolutely skint, not a bean about me. I thought, I hope they don't ask me to get them a lager because I've got no dough. They sat me on a throne and said how great I was and how they wanted me to come in and take over the Vic and (I was) going to have a really big storyline about having a gay son.”

He also admitted that he found it hard to contain his enthusiasm for the part, and had to try not to seem desperate in front of the producer.

“I was like, 'Wow, I want to do a cartwheel in front of them' but I thought, 'Play it down, don't show your bolt too early.' I went, 'I'll think about it' and then I walked out and I did a couple of backflips on the way out! I played it right down, I didn't want to look desperate and I was desperate,” he said.

More: Danny Dyer auditioned for ‘Game of Thrones’. Three times.