OMG SHOCKING!!! Former EastEnders star reveals jaw-dropping amount he was paid per episode
An ex EastEnders star has unpacked exactly how much actors could bank per episode on the BBC soap but the eye-watering amount is higher than the stars are thought to be getting today
One former EastEnders star has revealed the staggering amount stars used to make from the BBC soap. But it’s bad news for the show’s current stars who stand to make less due to scheduling changes.
Rory Jennings, who played Craig Dixon in 2007, appeared on The Fellas podcast to talk about his time on the show. In it, he revealed that he could make £1,000 an episode and double that if the episode was included in the omnibus.
He said: “It worked out I was on £1,000 per episode but this is, remember this is way back in the day so you had the Sunday repeat. Do you remember the Sunday repeat?
“You had the Omnibus on Sunday, so they would do basically for people who were hungover I think, from about 12 till 3 or something like that, they’d do all the EastEnders through the week on a Sunday repeat.”
The actor explained that if a show was repeated on a Sunday, the actors involved would get 80% of their salary again. “You would get 80% of your fee again, so you’d get a grand an episode and then 80% for the Sunday.”
As the omnibus episodes no longer air, current stars do not have the exact same cash inflow. The omnibus was dropped in 2015, after viewing figures were reported to drastically decrease. But when Rory was on the show it was still in full swing and he said, in theory, “you could be in four episodes a week, which would be £4000 and then you’d get 80% per episode”.
Rory was only on the show for two months, from July to September 2007. As Craig, he was a troubled teen that worked in Ian Beale’s chip shop. The character went on to commit a number of criminal offences, including attacking Patrick Trueman and grooming Ian’s daughter Lucy.
Craig was written out of the show after attempting to murder Patrick and the character was put in prison. Now, former EastEnders star Rory has almost 40,000 subscribers on YouTube and primarily makes content about football. He also hosts his own show on talkSport. On top of analysing sport, Rory is a professional poker player and competes in major live events.
Rory is not the only former star to talk about the show’s pay. Last year, Ross Kemp, who played Grant on the show, spoke about the soap on the Graham Norton Show. He shared that because you got paid per episode, he started to hope that he would only be in one scene, as he would still be paid the full amount.
He added that he even used to orchestrate scene appearances in episodes he wasn’t supposed to be in. He said: “I was quite good friends with the camera crew.
So when I found out [what they were filming] wasn’t the episode I was in, I’d nip in with a ‘Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, Ron.’ Ker ching! And it took them a year to work it out!”