McFadden put on leash

EastEnders baldie Steve McFadden has been slammed by the BBC for single-handedly ruining the flagship soap's reputation.

McFadden, who returns to play Phil Mitchell, has been criticised for his public dogging antics, made notorious by his white van of love he so proudly drives around in.

Ex-girlfriend Angela Bostock accused him of being barking mad for dogging and the Beeb is worried that with Steve's imminent return to the soap, he needs to clean up his tarnished image as quickly as possible.

But an insider told the Star this would be "impossible if he was popping down to the supermarket and loading up a camper".

"Everyone would say 'There goes the Steve the Dogger'. We had to act."

The trouble started when his ex claimed the gruff star had driven her all over the country and even to France, in the white van, and made her watch couples having sex in dogging hot spots.

Bostock, who is also the mother of his two children, said: "Steve loved watching dirty old men have sex. The father of my children is a pervert - he is addicted to dogging."

McFadden, who apparently likes to talk with an Irish accent and wear a fake moustache during the acts, has denied all the rumours.

However, while BBC bosses have given him the all-clear to return to Albert Square, his co-stars may not be so welcoming, after Bostock also revealed that he regularly slagged them all off.

According to Angela, he claimed Michelle Collins had a "hairy chest", and called Jessie Wallace, who plays Kat Slater "a big old lump with too much lipstick. . .looks like a brass".

Others came in for abuse, even his real-life ex-girlfriend, Lucy Benjamin, who played Lisa in the soap. He allegedly called her a "midget with a bad temper".