Channel 4 called upon Danny Dyer for this year's alternative Christmas message, after the Eastenders star famously branded David Cameron a “t***” in a live TV rant about Brexit earlier this year.
His five-minute speech saw the actor brand Westminster's Brexit plans "a shambles", adding: "I mean where are our leaders? Where are they? There’s been more backstabbing than we have in Albert Square."
He also took aim at US President Donald Trump for his decision not to attend an Armistice memorial due to rain and for his total avoidance of population centres during his trip to the UK.
“It ain’t any better for the Yanks though is it, you know, what an absolute melt they’ve got there," he said. "He don’t want to turn up to memorials because it’s raining. He don’t fancy a little trip to Britain because there’s people here that just don’t like him. Leave off.”
Commemorating this year's centenary celebrations of the Armistice and the women's vote, Dyer called for more "heroes" and "role models" in 2019, noting that it "could be your mum, could be your dad, your stepdad, your nan, teacher, social worker. Maybe even a handsome roguish actor off your favourite soap."
He also called playwright Harold Pinter, who died in 2008, "a father figure I didn’t even know I needed”, who taught him “that where I came from didn’t dictate where I went to”.
“I teach my girls they can be who they want to be, and I try and teach my boy to be a good man," he said. "Now don’t get me wrong, I ain’t no saint, you know, I can do better. I think we can all do better. And as dads, we can’t stop trying to do better until there’s no need for hashtags to remind us that no means no.”
He ended on the words: “Life can get a little stressful and we might get on each other’s nerves a bit, but remember how much there is to be proud of, to be grateful of, and get yourself a Harold, you know, if you can... Merry Christmas, my loves.”
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