EastEnders' new signing Lee MacDonald has said that playing legendary Grange Hill character Zammo McGuire killed his career.
The 60-year-old is making a shock return to acting after 32 years with a dream role in Walford, but is best known for his gritty drug addiction storyline in the BBC kids' soap in the 1980s.
His character Zammo became plagued with a heroin addiction and later overdosed in the back room of an amusement arcade after returning back to school clean.
However Lee struggled to find work after potential employer were worried about being associated with drugs because of his soap storyline.
He is set to play bus driver Terry, who will clash with pub landlord Mick Carter when they both try to win gig tickets.
Speaking to The Sun about his huge drugs storyline, he said: "It was massive at the time. They had a chat with my parents and said, ‘Look, we’d like Lee to take on this role as a drug addict, a heroin addict’.
“I think my parents were unaware of heroin at that time — I certainly was — so they agreed.
“We had to go to rehabilitation centres and meet ex-drug addicts and that was quite daunting. That was like, wow, this has really wrecked people’s lives.
“I had loads of letters at the time saying, ‘I’m never going to touch drugs again’ and, ‘Zammo’s put me off drugs’ so if for just one of those people it was a deterrent, then job done, really.”
Following his appearance on Grange Hill he had small roles in Birds Of A Father, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Bill.
He said: “I was leaving Grange Hill but earning reasonable money doing personal appearances in clubs and places like that.
“But then I got a call and they said, ‘We’re not going to use you any more.’
“I was like, ‘What?’ And they said they didn’t want their nightclubs to be associated with a drug addict.”
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