Remember when Shane Richie originally joined* EastEnders* back in 2002 as lovable Alfie Moon? Everyone adored him, right? RIGHT?!
Well, apparently not! And Shaney-boy himself even has something to say about his past ways, admitting he was a “smug b**tard”.
Before joining the cast of the BBC soap, Shane forged a career in comedy, children’s television and had signed up for a number of lucrative advertising deals.
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He told the Evening Times: “It’s a cliché, isn’t it? I got the million pound handshake from ITV and I bought into all of it. And half a million for the Daz ads just for looking at strangers’ dirty knickers.
“I thought it would last forever. But then I came across as a smug b**stard and the papers picked up on this. I don’t blame the papers at all for what was written about me.”
However, the harsh comments followed him right up until he joined ‘Enders back in 2002.
He said: “When it was announced I was going into EastEnders, one TV critic wrote, ‘If there is ever a reason we should not pay our TV licence, this is one.’
“At the time I was distraught. When it went on, it took about three months for attitudes to change. But there’s a part of me that understands the attitude. I wasn’t seen as an actor. I was seen as being too smug.”