McFadden dogged by campervan
Wednesday, 24 Aug 2005 10:04
White van man ban
EastEnders hardnut Steve McFadden has been asked by BBC bosses to ditch his white campervan in order to escape the rumours that have been dogging him.
The soap star, who plays ginger conker-faced Phil Mitchell, has been accused by his ex-girlfriend, Angela Bostock, of being barking mad for dogging.
The Beeb is worried that with Steve's imminent return to the soap, he needs to clean up his tarnished image as quickly as possible.
But an insider told the Daily Star this would be "impossible if he was popping down to the supermarket and loading up a camper".
"Everyone would say 'There goes the Steve the Dogger'. We had to act."
The trouble started when his ex claimed the gruff star had driven her all over the country and even to France, in the white van, and made her watch couples having sex in dogging hot spots.
Bostock, who is also the mother of his two children, said: "Steve loved watching dirty old men have sex. The father of my children is a pervert – he is addicted to dogging."
McFadden, who apparently likes to talk with an Irish accent and wear a fake moustache while doing the do, has denied all the rumours.
However, while BBC bosses have given him the all-clear to return to Albert Square, his co-stars may not be so welcoming, after Bostock also revealed that he regularly slagged them all off.
According to Angela, he claimed Michelle Collins had a "hairy chest", and called Jessie Wallace, who plays Kat Slater "a big old lump with too much lipstick. . .looks like a brass".
Others to come in for abuse included his real-life ex-girlfriend Lucy Benjamin, who played Lisa in the soap. He allegedly called her a "midget with a bad temper".
