Soaps’ biggest feuds – from Emmerdale actress slammed by 22 former co-stars to Hollyoaks actor’s dramatic brawl
SOAPS are full of street brawls, cat-fights and slanging matches - but sometimes the actors find themselves feuding in real life too.
Danny Dyer is the latest soap star to hint at a secret feud with one of his EastEnders co-stars, following his dramatic departure from the BBC soap at Christmas.
Asked by Jonathan Ross last week whether there was any of the cast he wouldn’t miss, Danny replied: "There's a few of them actually, I ain't going to lie.
“I won't say [who], you know. Most of them, I love dearly. Not all…"
A TV source told The Sun on Sunday that the star had a long-running feud with Steve McFadden — sparked by a row over the Queen Vic.
But Danny isn’t the first soap star to get involved in a row. Here, we reveal some of the biggest ones from across EastEnders, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and Emmerdale.
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Asan N’jie and Jamie Lomas
Soap fans were shocked when a video emerged from the 2019 TV Choice Awards of Emmerdale’s Asan N’jie threatening to stab Hollyoaks star Jamie Lomas.
It was later revealed that the brawl was over a financial dispute between Jamie - who plays Warren Fox on the Channel 4 soap - and one of Asan’s friends and co-stars.
Asan was sacked from his role of Ellis Chapman shortly after, and apologised in a statement.
He said: “I sincerely apologise to everybody who has been affected, especially Jamie Lomas, the whole Emmerdale team, our audience, ITV, my family and the organisers of the TV Choice Awards.
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“I am devastated, accept full responsibility for my actions and I am determined to learn from this.”
Five months after the fight Asan secured a role in one episode of the BBC drama Bloodlands, starring James Nesbitt.
Vicky Entwistle and Sue Cleaver
Sue Cleaver and Vicky Entwistle starred together on Corrie for 11 years, as Eileen Grimshaw and Janice Battersby, until 2011 when the latter left the show.
But, when Sue entered the I’m A Celebrity jungle last year, Vicky took to social media to seemingly make a dig at her former co-star.
Although she didn’t mention Sue’s name, she wrote: "Don't think I will watch I'm A Celeb this season, have a feeling it may become too toxic.
“I don't like pack mentality. It's often cruel and unbearable to watch, so I will give it a miss."
Dame Barbara Windsor and Jessie Wallace
In 2010, shortly after leaving EastEnders, the late Dame Barbara Windsor revealed she got into a blazing row with her former co-star Jessie Wallace - who plays Kat Slater - when she arrived on set late.
Speaking on Life Stories with Piers Morgan, Barbara said: “Jessie Wallace was the first time I erupted.
“She was late, she was young. She’s not like that anymore.
“I lost my temper.”
The actress, who died in December 2020, after suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, continued: “It was silly and I burst into tears and ran up to the producer. I said I had been terrible and amateur.”
Barbara and Jessie eventually made up, and the Peggy Mitchell star added: “We liked each other a lot and she is a good actress.
“But I told her not to be like that and arrive at the last minute. It was unprofessional."
Roxanne Pallett and the entire Emmerdale cast
Roxanne Pallett shot to fame in Emmerdale, playing Jo Stiles from 2005 to 2008.
But it wasn’t until she went into the Celebrity Big Brother house, in 2018, that fans found out she’d upset pretty much everyone she’d ever worked with.
Roxanne was in the CBB house with Ryan Thomas - who also happened to be a good friend of her ex-boyfriend Richard Fleeshman, having starred in Corrie with him.
But things took a dark turn when Roxanne accused Ryan of punching her, crying in the Diary Room - seemingly forgetting she was constantly being filmed, so viewers could see what really happened was nothing of the sort.
Roxanne made sure Ryan got a warning, and viewers watched on as he sobbed over the accusations.
However, neither party realised that the entire nation was on his side, with viewers eventually crowning him the winner, and making sure Ofcom received 25,000 complaints for Roxanne’s lies.
Not only that, but 22 of Roxanne’s former Emmerdale co-stars complained about her on Twitter.
Nick Miles, who plays Jimmy King, wrote: "Anybody who has worked with this woman know’s she’s toxic. CBB must have known it too.”
Nick added that people spoke up about Roxanne "throwing around accusations before she went in the CBB house".
Following the outrage over Roxanne, Sammy Winward, who played Katie Sugden, added: "It’s been a long time coming."
Kym Marsh and Steph Waring
Back in 2014, Hollyoaks star Stephanie Waring was left devastated when Corrie’s Kym Marsh started dating her ex Dan Hopper, just six weeks after their five-year relationship ended.
Stephanie, who has a 12-year-old daughter Lexi-Grace with Dan, lashed out at Kym, telling The Sun: "She's carried on with him knowing what it's done to me. It is killing me.
"I considered her a friend who I've known for years. I had no idea that she would ever do anything like this... There is an unwritten rule that if you are friends with somebody you don't go near their ex partners."
Kym - who starred as Michelle Connor in Corrie from 2006 to 2019 - dismissed the claims, saying she was disappointed in her pal for not speaking to her in person.
Kym and Dan went on to have a whirlwind romance and even got engaged before splitting just a year later.
And in 2016, Steph - who plays Cindy Cunningham on Hollyoaks - apologised to Kym and hugged it out at a charity ball.
Sharing the moment on social media, she wrote: “I want to draw a line under everything that has been said in the past two years.
"This is about closure, forgiveness and me moving forward into next year.
"My biggest regret is talking about what happened with Kym in the first place. Kym's a mum and I'm a mum.
"I'm so sorry for putting her and her family through that. I shouldn't have lashed out."
Jane Danson and Vicky Entwistle
Jane Danson and Vicky worked together on Corrie for years, with the former starring as Janice’s step-daughter Leanne Battersby.
But they fell out when Vicky put her foot in it on social media.
In November 2020, Corrie viewers watched as Leanne said goodbye to her terminally ill son Oliver.
While most fans were blown away by the emotional scenes, Vicky wasn’t.
She wrote: “But imagine if she had better writers behind her!!! That really would have been something.”
Jane, obviously offended, replied: “That’s so disrespectful. They were some of the best scripts I have ever had.
“Shame on you for writing that! Very disappointed how mean that comment was!”
Jane later deleted her tweet, and said she’d apologised to Jane privately.
She wrote: “I have apologised to @RealJaneDanson this morning. Rightly so. She is a wonderful actress! My tweet was childish & hurtful.
“I realise that & am truly sorry for any hurt I may have caused.”
Jane later added to The Sun: “She did apologise, she said sorry.
“I think the problem with Twitter is people say things in the moment and often they sound a little bit harsher than what they were or people take it differently.
“On that occasion, yeah, I thought it was mean. But she did apologise so I suppose you have to draw the line.
“When you work really hard on something and somebody who understands that situation makes a comment like that, it is hurtful.
“So yeah I was a bit hurt by it but I’ve kind of let it go now!”
James Sutton and Stephanie Davis
In 2015, when Stephanie Davis left her role of Sinead O’Connor in Hollyoaks, amid claims she turned up to work drunk, her co-star James Sutton - who plays John-Paul McQueen - made his feelings known.
He posted a picture of the Wizard of Oz’s Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, before adding, “All out of sympathy,” and “Nine lives don’t last.”
The following year, when Stephanie was on Celebrity Big Brother, James took to social media to vent once again.
He wrote: “My timeline is full of Big Brother s***e. Night all.”
One of his followers replied: “You’ll miss your old mucker Stephanie Davis if you go to bed now lol.”
But James simply replied: “I'd rather boil my head.”
He later deleted the tweet.
Antony Cotton and John Thomson
John Thomson was only in Corrie for just over a year as children’s entertainer Jesse Chadwick.
But he clearly didn’t warm to Antony Cotton - who plays Sean Tully on the soap.
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When Antony was on I’m A Celebrity in 2011, John took to Twitter, writing: “Antony Cotton – the truth will out.
“You nasty piece of work, you are doing yourself no favours.”