EastEnders star John Altman
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EastEnders legend John Altman reveals he earned just £25 from soap repeats last year

The time for big money royalties are over

EastEnders legend John Altman has revealed he earned just £25 from the soap’s repeats last year.

The actor played Nasty Nick Cotton in the soap on and off for 25 years.

John Altman has revealed he earned just £25 from EastEnders repeats last year (Credit: SplashNews.com)

And while in years gone by he raked in a fortune, he has now revealed that his royalties for the classic episodes have dwindled to almost nothing.

Speaking to the Sunday Times about his financial situation he revealed he earned: “About £24,000 from pantomimes, guest slots on shows such as Pointless Celebrities, and celebrity video messaging during the Covid lockdown.”

But he said the money from EastEnders has now dried up.

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He added: “Back in the early days, EastEnders used to have an omnibus every Sunday and we’d receive 80 per cent of our original fee. Very nice!

“Last year I got about £25 for some old repeated episodes of EastEnders!”

The actor recently admitted he is desperate to join Emmerdale after Nasty Nick was killed off in EastEnders.

John Altman played Nasty Nick last in 2015 (Credit: BBC)

The actor’s alter-ego Nick bowed out of the BBC soap in his mother Dot’s arms in 2015 after a heroin overdose.

But he reckons he could’ve survived and made his way to the Dales.

“They’ve never done a crossover in soaps, you know the public would accept it,” he told the Daily Star.

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“I’m sure the public would accept it if Nick Cotton appeared up in Emmerdale one day, out of the swirling mist, all tramped up, because he’d been drifting around England.

“Can you imagine that? There’s an idea for the writers up there in Emmerdale. Trouble is I don’t know if the BBC would allow it – I don’t know. My imagination is running riot.”

John recently admitted he would’ve liked soap bosses to leave the door open for Nick to return.

Dot let Nick die after years of putting up with his evil behaviour (Credit: BBC)

EastEnders legend John Altman wanted bosses to keep Nick Cotton alive

Speaking exclusively to Entertainment Daily, John said: “It would’ve been nice to keep the door open but I did think the last scene was quite powerful.”

However John wished the ending could’ve been a little more dramatic.

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“I would’ve liked him to have been on the top of the house with a machine gun and helicopters flying overhead and him getting picked off by a police sniper like James Cagney in White Heat,” John said.

“But they couldn’t afford the helicopters or the guns, I don’t think.

“An armed siege, that was it. But anyway, they said they couldn’t afford it so it was an overdose on heroin – a lot cheaper.”

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