Ray Brooks slams "shabby" EastEnders

Former EastEnders star Ray Brooks has admitted that he did not enjoy his time on the soap.

Brooks joined the show in 2005 as Joe Macer but filmed his final scenes in 2006.

Speaking to The People, he explained that he had been looking forward to being part of the soap.

"The cast greeted me with tremendous enthusiasm and I thought it was going to be glorious," he said. "But gradually all that subsided as they got back into the old routine and I quickly noticed how tired everyone looked."

Brooks complained that the show had "shabby sets and poor scripts" and criticised the short amount of rehearsal time. He also admitted that his relationship with his late co-star Wendy Richard deteriorated after the pair's characters got married.

"It was a good lesson, though admittedly one that I didn't need at my time of life," he concluded. "If I'd done it a little earlier I would have probably been more confident and been given better stuff."